One of our leaders emailed the scout master and myself a link to a letter that most of you have likely seen by now that he thought would be a good addition to the blog. After a conversation I had this morning with my son, I wanted to get this out, but for a different reason.
The link was for the letter from Mike Rowe (an Eagle Scout himself) of Dirty Jobs to a thirteen year old boy scout at the request of the boy’s father. To me, this document is an amazing piece of truth that every scout leader should read to keep themselves in check while working with the kids (boys scouts or girl scouts). In addition, every scout should see it when they’re in that wavering stage to help them figure out what their real goals are. My favorite line in the letter comes early, “The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line.“
Having been prompted by the email from our Committee Chair, I read it again this morning and I showed it to my fifteen year old Life scout who has made no bones about the fact that he fully intends to reach his goal of Eagle. A few minutes later, he asked me, “Mom, if only one out of one hundred scouts make it to Eagle, why does our troop have so many? If that is true, then we should have a thousand who haven’t made it since I joined.” I replied, “I’d like to think it has something to do with the number of dedicated adult leaders ya’ll have that want to be sure you have a quality program.” He thought for a moment and added, “Yeah, but I think it has more to do with the fact that us scouts work with each other. We help each other out more than I think other troops do.” I stood in front of him, shockingly for those of you who know me, speechless. He went on to say, “A lot of troops have the parents getting in the way and ya’ll don’t do that so we get learn from each other.” In quick response, I told him, “I stand corrected. And I think you should share that view with the troop.”
My twelve year old Star scout also plans on achieving the rank. We are fortunate in their desires. But I will admit that I’ve been guilty of telling them that becoming an Eagle is their job; well, that and school. After reading Mike’s letter, I don’t think I’ll say that again. It isn’t their job. It will be their honor. So really, I guess I stand corrected on two points.
