The Value of "All that Scout crap"

Facebook image by Nick Owen

My mother and several of my friends (mostly males) all asked me the same question as I was growing up.   As a young Scoutmaster, I was asked that same question by parents who were interested in Boy Scouting but wondered out loud, "what will he get out of this?"  Black and Latino families ask that same question when I go to communities of color and introduce and explain Scouting to them. It is a universal question, sometimes even asked of ourselves:

"What's the value of all that Scout crap?  It sounds and looks to me like algebra or Latin or all of that other "good to have skills"...useless in the real world.  Where's the payoff?"

Instead of some balding Black man trying to explain it to all of you, as I have attempted to explain it to parents and my own mother...please allow me to share a Facebook entry posted yesterday by a Scout - Nick Owen.  It's one of so many hundreds of instances whereby all of those meetings, outings, conferences, ceremonies, and "crap" Scouts attend and participate in does pay off...for other people, just like we all promise we would do.

(And for the Scout also for he (or she) finds that they did not waste their time after all.)

I can say I've honestly never been as thankful for the skills I've learned in Scouting than as I am today. Eric (Wagstaff) and I - on our way back from a Scout activity - ...just witnessed a surreal two-car wreck on I-205 South near Foster (Oregon); one car spun out of control and flipped another just behind us.

Some cars near us kept going and left, but we pulled over and ran back, calling 911 with first aid kit in hand, and started treating the two kids from the flipped car with immediate first aid while others helped their mother out of the crushed vehicle. Thankfully, everyone was lucid and talking - despite the severity of the incident.

Eric, myself, and others learn about this stuff all the time through the Boy Scouts, so I can speak for us both, without a shred of doubt, when I say we were level headed and confident throughout.

I'd like to take this experience to thank the people who have spent hours and weekends teaching me leadership and practical skills to face situations like these. Even further, I'd like to thank the program in which we have invested so much for providing opportunities to develop such essential traits.

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised we weren't actually wearing our uniforms during the whole ordeal. But it goes to show that Scouting does change lives, and today it could very well have saved one. Glad everyone is alright.

I really don't have anything else to say here; Nick truly has said it all.  He's on Facebook if you want to express your pride and appreciation to him over there.  Eric Wagstaff is also on Facebook if you want to express your pride and appreciation to him also. I did. I also expressed my pride and appreciation to the Cascade Pacific Council, BSA, for assisting in developing Nick and his friend Eric into two outstanding Scouts.