I have been watching the slow but steady demise of the Boy
Scouts of America and as an Eagle Scout
of this former organization, I have decided to write a sad goodbye to an
institution that played a major role in helping me grow up.
The new organization, the Scouts of America, no longer
caters exclusively to boys and their change of approach marks the last of the
major organizations that worked strictly with boys and young teens in their
formative years. (Yes, I am aware that Explorers and Sea Scouts have been coed
for years but they cater to an older group of Scouts).
There are many coed organizations that provide wonderful
services to children and teens and I commend them on the great work that they
do. And there are many organizations that still work strictly with girls and
young women. But I think we are leaving many young boys to fend for themselves
in the difficult task of learning how to be functioning young men in our
society. What they learn on the streets or filtered through a coed screen, will
not necessarily completely serve them in adult life.
The Boy Scouts was a life-changing organization for me. They
provided me and many others with scholarships to attend a camp where we learned
about teamwork, living in the outdoors, swimming, life saving and many other
skills. I learned from counselors and cabin mates, and was able to talk frankly
with others about the very confusing aspects of the transition to adulthood.
I am saddened to see that the Boy Scouts of America no
longer exists. Generations of young men grew up learning about the need to be
trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind and many other positive
traits. New generations will be taught other things by a nation that seems to
no longer value these qualities. For years Hollywood has been denigrating what
it means to be caring and honest, using the term “boy scout” to tag someone as
clueless and impotent. Well, it has finally taken hold. We have trashed them
out of existence.
Even though I am sure the new coed organization will do its
best to help develop good citizens, its role will be very different. The
pendulum has swung in recent years to dismissing men’s and boy’s organizations
as unnecessary to our culture. Somehow young men are expected to have all the
answers just by the act of growing up, while young women, who mature much
earlier than boys, are expected to be helpless in dealing with the new world. That
attitude is not good for either sex. I sincerely hope the trend doesn’t
continue to the point that the many young women’s organizations also disappear.
Adolescents of both sexes often need time and space to figure things out.
We need to pay attention to the special needs of boys who
are facing a very confusing period as to their role in society. Losing the Boy
Scouts as an organization has added a significant gap in the opportunities for
this development. Learning on the street and from video games or Hollywood
films will not serve our young men or our society well.
I am including a poem from my book “In the Cat’s Eye” (Snap
Screen Press 2009) called Boy Scout Camp as a short reminiscence of what will
be missed. I finish with a thank you to BSA for all you did for me. May you
rest in peace.
Glenn K. Currie
Boy Scout Camp
Rain pounded
The cabin roof.
Drum beats on snares
That Shrouded
Rabbits trapped.
It was scary at
first,
Then soothing,
As we fell asleep
To natural rhythms.
It was us
Against the world.
Capture the flag,
Or clean latrines.
Learn nature’s
secrets
Or bleed in its
barbed wire.
We played games of
life
In pastures
Where children grew.
We lay on
battlefields
Of crushed grass,
Reading secret
messages
Sent to us by a
million stars.
And we found our way
Through dark forests,
To the sanctuary
Of friendly campfires.
In the end
We learned about
life.
Trappers
Taught us
To survive the
snares.
And to see
The world
Outside
The rabbit hole.
Copyright 2009
Glenn K. Currie
