Fat Old Guy

Because it is a method and not a goal. Although it isn't as true today as it was 90 years ago, a uniform could be a significant economic barrier to joining Scouts, so B-P & co. decided that it was more important to have a boy in Scouting than to have him in a uniform. Today, we have parents who balk at a $50 uniform for Scouts but willingly pay $100 for an NFL jacket for their son. At the risk of stirring up a new kettle of fish (that's a great mixed metaphor), it galls me to see a mom using food stamps to buy food and her kids are wearing $100 sneaks and $150 jackets.

"We do not wear uniform to the District Committee meeting, as not everyone is a uniformed Scouter." However, everyone could be a uniformed Scouter if they wished. They make a patch for just about every position. I am a Troop Committee member but I wear a full uniform to all troop meetings, Roundtables, and nearly every other funtion that I attend.

Cheffy would probably consider me a barbarian. I like nothing more than a big hamburger smothered in onions and mushrooms unless it is a giant slab of charred animal flesh accompanied by a monsterous baked Idaho spud smothered in butter. I don't see the point is paying $50 for a small piece of chicken in some green sauce and four artfully laid out green beans with two carrot slices.

However, it does say "Leadership" not "service" This is coming to a head because a father thinks that it is grossly unfair that his 12 year old son may have to wait until March for a POR when the positions are scheduled for turnover. This is the guy who served as PL over the summer. He could have stayed as PL but Daddy discouraged it which is too bad. So far, the kid has had less opportunity than my Lab to show leadership.

"BTW: I do confess I am having a hard time visualizing FOG getting shouted down anywhere, leastwise at Boy Scouts" It is difficult but has happened. Usually, it is like the talk shows where the Conservative guest lets the liberal have his say, politely keeping quiet, but every time the Conservative attempts to say something, the Liberal interrupts and shouts at him.

The requirements for Star and Life say ". . . serve actively for [four or six] months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility (or carry out a Scoutmaster-assigned leadership project to help the troop)" The troop whose number I wear on my sleeve has long given "service projects" out and couted these for leadership. Examples have been making a "knot board" for the troop and marking troop equipment. No other Scouts have been involved. I don't see this as leadership but I'm being shouted down with "That's the way that we've always done it." Comments?

I have an intense dislike for "the Great Scoutmaster" prayers. Who are we praying to? Baden-Powell? No, I'm not a bible thumping Christian. I just want the prayer to be to someone. God, Allah, Brahma, it really doesn't matter.

At district committee meetings for the District that I am in, the only Scouter who isn't in uniform is the District Chair. In fact, no one has ever seen him in a uniform.

Touchy, aren't we, Cheffy. So much for putting a smiley in my posting.

"A way to get around this whole situation is to use one of the alcohol free wines" Why not just use Welch's Grape Juice? :-)

"There's the hypocrisy issue when leaders w/a gut get on an overweight scout's case." The hypocrisy isn't as great as you imagine. Most of us were fit as youth, that fitness started to fade as we got jobs, had children and aged. The time just isn't there for most adults to work at fitness. On the other hand, most kids find hours to play X-Box but can't do anything physical. Just the other day, I was visiting a friend at his home, the day was beautiful about 75 degrees, low humidity, and light clouds. His teenaged son had a friend over and they spent the day playing some game on the computer. This friend lives on a 400 acre farm with woods, streams and lots of interesting places but the kids want nothing to do with it.

" How is the program benefitted by those folks taking the time to go home and change into their uniforms? " "I don't have the time to go home and change." That's the silly argument put forth by many adults in my the troop with which I am affiliated. My response is simple, take your uniform to work and change there. If you are too embarassed to be seen by your coworkers in your Scout suit, maybe you shouldn't be a Scouter. (This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

"Fscouter, Thus Spake Zarathustra is a book (Nietzsche)." Originally titled "Also Sprach Zarathustra." "The music from 2001 A Spsce Odyssey is Also Sprach Zarathustra." By a strange coincidence, the Enlish title of that piece is "Thus Spake Zarathustra."

If you do a Google search on "Boy Scout Ceremonies" you get thousands of hits. A couple years ago, I had done a bunch of research and found some nice ones on the internet but unfortunately, my bookmark file got trashed so I don't have the URLs anymore. The British ones are often very profound. Sometimes silly but often profound.

All meetings should move along and that includes COHs. However, all the BSA litereature that I've seen says that investature ceremonies and COHs should be serious, somewhat symbolic and full of meaning. Our COHs aren't as elaborate as I'd like but that's just me. We do call the parents up to stand with the boys who are advancing, even though he was given his patch when he advanced. The SPL reads a charge for the new rank and gives a parent the new rank card, the parent then presents the rank card to the Scout. The Scout then pins a Mom pin on mom. The boys are usually grinning from ear to ear during this. For merit badges, the SPL reads a list of merit badges that each Scout has earned and hands them to the Scout in a baggie. The COH isn't just for the Scout, much of it is for the families in attendance. They want to see the Scouts getting their awards. Ceremony, if done well, is a good thing.

" Why would adults hold a fund raising event that can not be attended by the scouts? Isn't the idea of a fundraiser for the boys to earn money and pay their OWN way in scouting? " I would think that there are many fund raising events at the Council and National level that are not attended by Scouts. In reality, how much fundraising is really done by the Scouts? In any case, you could dance around it by saying that the Troop wasn't conducting the event, rather the CO is conducting the event to raise money for the troop.

"If I worked for 6 months, my employer decided to remove me from my job," Is it your job or a job that your employer allows you do in the spirit of cooperation and goodwill?

From my (yes, it is mine) evil 1962 edition of the Scoutmaster's Handbook: The National Council recommends [emphasis mine] that intoxicating liquors be not used in connection with Scout meetings, and that all Scoutmasters and other officials while on active duty refrain from the use of tobacco, and that those who are accustomed to the use of tobacco do not conceal the fact from the boys, but discuss frankly with them the desirability of refraining from its use until they have attained their full development. From my 1967 (oooo, so evil) Scout Handbook" Alcohol -- ONe look at a drunken man staggering down the street will convince you that alcohol indeed does slow down mental and bodily functions. Alcohol is avoided by every young person who wants to be in the best of health. It does no good and can do a great deal of harm. It will pay you to stay away from it.

"I also think that bringing the bottle of non-alcoholic and/or undrinkable cooking sherry may violate the "spirit" of the rule." No, it doesn't violate the spirit of the rule. The rule is not there so that boys won't get the idea that drinking is okay, because drinking is okay and they get that message at home and on TV. BSA may say that the rule is for the message but it isn't. The rule is there because too many Scouters don't understand moderation. A nice cold beer would be very nice to have after a long hike but too many wouldn't stop with one or two and soon they'd be blotto. A glass of bourbon and branch water would be nice while sitting by the fire but too many Scouters would drink half the bottle and need to be carried to their tents. Drunkeness is not a good thing to display in front of children. Heck, it isn't a good thing to be drunk in front of anyone who isn't already drunk themselves. Also, there is the safety issue. How can you be a responsible adult if you are blotto?

For too many, Scouting is about advancement and retention and not about character building or citizenship. Very few, out of the tens of thousands of Scouters, consider being a Scout or a Scouter a 24/7 thing. Scoutlike behavior is only required during Scout functions. So what if the kid was expelled from school for attacking a teacher, that's not our worry. Actually expect Scouts to do a good turn daily? Don't be ridiculous. Being of good character has gone out of fashion in our society. Heck, look at our last president. Politicians are expected to be crooks and people are surprised when a business does the right thing, whatever that thing may be. Recently a friend told me that I was unreasonable for punishing my son for lying to me about something since what he lied about wasn't that serious of an offense. I didn't care that much about my son'sthe transgression committed by the child who sprang from my loins (I can call them mine because they are attached to me), I cared about the lie. We are becoming a godless country. Most don't want to admit the they believe in God and those that do usually become pests. We are saddled with these strange prayers to the Great Scoutmaster because we are afraid of offending anyone. Why? I wouldn't be offended if we had a mullah say a prayer at a meeting asking Allah, who speaks to the prophets, to bring peace and safety to the world. I wouldn't be offended if a Hindu said a prayer thanking one of his gods for creating the world and giving us food. I could continue but I have an appointment.

I've been doing some research, if I may use that word since I didn't establish any data collection criteria or run it past an academic, on cooking sherry. According to numerous wine related web sites "Cooking Sherry," has been salted to make it undrinkable. It is not considered a beverage by the government. I did find an interesting column from a "help columnist" about cooking sherry and alcoholics. Evidently he doesn't believe that all the alcohol will evaporate at 212 degrees F so he recommends that all alcoholics not eat any dish prepared with cooking sherry. Evidently, he never studied chemistry on the way to getting his doctorate.

"Guys, I'm really pleased that you're trying to raise the bar with your cooking, but BSA has some really strict policies about having alcohol on Scout outings." That would be lying to the Scouts. " This month they bring the home-made version. Next month they're running out of time, so they just stick the whole wine bottle in the backpack. The following month we're all in the SE's office because a couple boys decided drinking the wine would be more fun than cooking with it" You must not have much confidence in your Scouts. So much for the whole idea of Trustworthy.

" If the boys are to learn how to cook with a substance they shouldn't legally be handling under the age of 18 in the first place, let them do it at home, and keep it there. " Legally handling? Where I grew up, cooking sherry was found in the same section of the supermarket as vinegar and anyone could buy it. As someone else pointed out, it is undrinkable by anyone but those who would also drink Sterno. The rules do not prohibit it, it isn't a beverage. I don't even think that it is taxed the same way that regular wine is. " My local curmudgeon then asked how one would keep the boys from the wine outside of Mass." This reminds me of a time that a diabetic was told that he shouldn't let any of the Scouts see him take an injection because they'd get the idea that drugs are okay.

Boy, this is a difficult situation. Do you have enough experienced and willing youth to provide leadership? I think that with all of the kids being close in age, you might have trouble finding leaders. It's been my observation that with patrols of 6th and 7th graders, that the PL doesn't lead and an ASM becomes more of a Den Leader. If you have the youth leaders and enough adults, heck this could be great. Your troop could be doing something nearly every weekend, if only 25% on each outing, you'd still have a big group.

There was only one troop outing for him to go on as PL so that would have been May, summer camp for one week in June, then nothing in July or August although it was suggested to him that he try to get some Patrol activities going, he did nothing but the rest of the troop does nothing as well.