Top Ten List of the Best of the Boy Scouts

This past Sunday I was asked to speak at church about the Boy Scouts. Thought I’d share online the thoughts I’d prepared:

10. Back Packing in the wilderness

There is nothing like escaping the demands of our constantly connected world by heading to the great outdoors. There are no phone calls, emails or text messages to demand your attention. Setting up a hammock, starting a camp fire and enjoying a hardy meal are just some of the luxuries enjoyed in the outdoors. It is also the best way I know to observe the beauty of Gods creation.

9. Mentor from personal experience

When I think of the Boy Scout Program, I think how significant a role mentoring plays. The program lives by the idea of learn a skill then teach the skill. As a leader I appreciate every opportunity I get to share what I’ve learned in my life. Believe it or not, people my age still remember what it was like to be a youth. Being part of scouting allows me to add my experience to the experience of each person I work with. And the same holds true in reverse, the experience of the youth are shared with me and teach me.

8. Give young men experience

Youth today are constantly facing so called “do or die” situations in life. Think about school for instance. In the learning process, students are required to take periodic exams that measure how much they have learned. There are rarely second chances. Once the exam is graded, their grade is set in stone. This process, by its nature, ingrains in each of us this pass or fail concept. Scouting is an opportunity to experience failure in a positive way. Scouting uses the philosophy of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” It’s a reminder that we need not fear failure, we only need to fear giving up.

7. Teach respect for others

Another important principle that is essential for scouting to work is a respect for others. I know when I was a youth, giving insults and put downs among friends was accepted and even encouraged. It was a competition to see who had the most creative way to tear someone else down. If I had to guess, not much has changed today. In scouting, we cannot allow anyone to tear down. The program has at its core to build up. It’s a place where any young man can join in without fear of being mocked. The only way that this can happen is when each participant respects their fellow scouts and follows the golden rule. We reinforce this idea whenever we can.

6. Teach the importance of service

The scout motto is “do a good turn daily”. A good turn involves putting others ahead of yourself.
It gives joy and satisfaction that you cannot receive any other way. This principle directly relates to the teachings of Jesus. As scouting actively promotes a relationship to God, it is no surprise that service plays a role in its program.

5. A place to Explore

Have you every looked through the list of merit badges that are offered? The list is exhaustive. Here’s a sample of what the boys can earn:

Aviation, Dentistry, Crime Prevention, Gardening, American Business, Athletics, Sports, Communications, Metalwork, Oceanography, Theater, Reading, Nuclear Science, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Salesmanship, Entrepreneurship, Electronics, Public Speaking, Computers, Architecture, Archaeology, Plumbing, Cinematography, Journalism, Graphic Arts.

These are just a small fraction of the total list of merit badges scouts can explore.

4. Work in a team environment
3. Leadership

These two go hand in hand. A scout troop is broken into patrols. Each patrol works as a team in all the troop does. This applies when learning a new skill. The first to learn the skill then turns around and helps the others in his patrol. It also applies when preparing meals when camping. They take turns cooking the food and cleaning up the mess afterwards. One of the things I enjoy doing is giving them a problem solving activity and asking them to work together to solve it. It’s fun for both me and the boys.

All of these activities give opportunities for the scouts to have experience in leadership. They lead and conduct the meetings. They teach one another, mentor one another, and gain confidence leading a group. In fact, this is the reason Eagles Scouts are so highly valued in the business world. It shows they have experience in leadership and are good at following through with their goals. Both valuable traits sought after by employers.

2. Week at Scout Camp

I don’t care if you are a boy or an adult, it’s all about scout camp. A week in the mountains with a focus on having fun. You can try your hand at rifle shooting or shotgun shooting. Or perhaps you can try your hand at archery.

And then there is always water. You can spend time in the pool to learn to swim or just to play. You can even challenge yourself by attempting the mile swim. If you’d rather not get wet, you can jump in a canoe out on the lake or go fishing.

If you are craving a real adventure you can try your hand at the fifty foot climbing wall. If the heights don’t bother you, the you can joint the low and high cope courses that promise more climbing and even a zip line through the trees.

Between all the fun, you have time to relax in you hammock and play games at night before bed. It’s no surprise scout camp is number two.

1. Scout Oath & Law

To me, this is the most important thing in the scouting program. I want my sons to grow into men that value living a life of integrity. I realize there is more than one way to achieve that goal, but I have found the Boy Scout program to be successful time after time, so I trust the program.

“On my Honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country,
And to obey the scout law. To help other people at all times,
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.”

There has been one person that has lived on this earth that has been an example for all. He served others and mentored many. He kept His Father in the center of His life. He knew His duty and went about His Father’s business. He lived for us and He died for us. Indeed, the scout oath is patterned to follow the teachings of Jesus. For this reason, I recommend scouting to help all of us to become more like our Savior Jesus Christ and to become closer to Him.

A Traditional Father Tradition

The other night I attended a Boy Scout Court of Honor for my son’s troop. It brought back a lot of memories for me. When I was a kid, I was a scout. I went through the entire program, all the way until I was an Eagle Scout. The secrete to my success was my dad. My dad served as the scoutmaster for for myself and all my brothers. He made sure we went camping, learned our knots, knew first aid and could cook for ourselves. He gently pushed us toward our goal when we were dragging our feet. He did this for my many boys, not just my brothers and I.

As a youth, I appreciated the fun activities. Our troop was active outdoors. We would go out every other month on some hike or another. One of the most memorable trips I had was a 50 mile hike with my dad and one other scout. We hiked through the back county of the Sierra Nevada mountains to end up on top of mount Whitney. That experience turned out to be very important to me. During my transition from dependent to independent, I reflected on the accomplishment often. It was a reminder to me that I could do hard things and to never give up.

Now that I’m older and have the responsibility of children of my own, I’ve become aware of another thing that has stayed with me since I was a scout. I was taught how to be a responsible and decent human being. Every week we would recite the scout oath and law. It was rote memorization and at the time I didn’t place much meaning to it. As I reflect now, I realize that there were many times in the years past that the principles promoted in the oath and law came to minds as I considered the which paths I would take in life. That’s what I want to give my sons, as my father gave them to me. So you see, I had to be at that court of honor the other night. I was handing out the awards and presenting the troop slide show just like my father before me.

(To my father who is missed but not forgotten)

Footnotes:

Scout Oath:

On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the scout law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mental awake, and morally straight.

Scout Law:

A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.