Stosh

Slavery comes in many flavors varying from full fledged ownership to I own your soul.... We abolished the full blown type and replaced with indentured servitude. If I paid your way to America, you owe me.... and I "own" you until the debt is paid. This practice goes on yet today. Then there are the big corporations where the employees owe their soul to the company store. Then there's the political pawns that are pushed around the game board totally unaware of the consequences of those manipulating the game. (Just think in terms of big city bosses.... You get the picture.) Now with the entitlement movement in full swing, we have an entire subculture of people who cannot break out of the cycle of government dependence which the government loves because they know these people will never consider voting themselves into total poverty. So, slavery in many respects is alive and well in America as it has been since day #1. If you don't believe me, can someone come in and take your car? Your home? Your children? - Yes they do it all the time, just read the news. If you think you're free, really free, guess again.

Unfortunately the requirements are for individuals, not groups. At least in the original format of BSA. By the time some SM's get done interpreting the requirement, the advancement will simply be filled by just a standard outing for the troop. It's kinda like the group promotion process many Eagle mill troops are already doing. I basically threw this out there more of a show of what was done in the past and what will probably never happen again in the BSA.

The field testing used to be part of the original requirements in Scouting. Maybe we ought to bring it back. One doesn't need 50 miles, but I bet a 10 mile into the woods walk, taking observations, recording a journal, practicing skills, camping overnight, and returning doing the same observations, journaling, etc. would be better than a pencil-whipped check mark for Scout Spirit. Oh, it'll never work, the boy would need to so this ALONE, AT NIGHT, WITHOUT SUPERVISION? WHAT IF IT RAINS? That's never going to happen today. There are many cultures out there that do this sort of thing as a coming of age for young men. We're not asking our scouts to kill a lion, just participate in a vision quest. The goal is not to prove his skills in the woods, but to go and seek himself there in the woods. The OA ordeal is supposed to be something like this, but it's rather contrived and symbolic at best. I'm suggesting the real deal instead.

I don't wonder at all. I have seen some of them that make the MB so dry that Death Valley looks like a rain forest.

With a truly balanced understanding of the War, one can easily understand the dynamics playing out on both sides of the issue. The last thing on anyone's mind either North or South was the issue of race. That is a modern re-write of the historical account. So who started the War? The first British colonists that brought slaves to America to simplify the development of the colonial economy. By 1750 the industrial revolution was in full swing and some of the colonists in America embraced it and thus needed less manual labor to maintain that type of economy. The rural colonies were slower to develop, but that which embraced the industrial revolution also was adapted to greatly improve the slave economy of the south. Slaves WITH industrial machinery would greatly increase the production capabilities of the rural economy and just as slavery was naturally dying out in the South it was rejuvenated. The magnitude of the slavery issue can be seen in how the states developed. The Northern states tended to be small so that the Senate balance could more easily be kept. Whereas Texas is greater than the New England states, they would be greatly opposed to having Texas come in as more than just one state and thus tipping the balance of slave/non-slave in the Senate. The House was a different matter. What would become of the balance of power if all those slaves were counted as fully human? OMG, again the Southern states would have the advantage! Can't have that!!! So the North was just as much to fault as the south for this whole slavery mess, but modern re-write historians never tell one the whole truth.

When I teach PM MB, it isn't boring. My boys seem to think it's one of the most useful MB's out there. Heck, Camping MB can be boring if one only dwells on the 20 nights of mosquitoes and discomfort one has to put up with to get it. It's the journey, not the destination that is important.

Yeah, but it gives a warm-fuzzy feeling of winning something for a change at the expense of others. There are a lot of people that are willing to settle for cheap wins than go out there and tackle the real problems we face.

@ Every now and then they'll throw you a curve, just to keep you honest. Congrats on doing nothing as a parent. Keep up the good work and help him grow up right!

Scouting would not be able to be started with much of any of it's principles today. Maybe some outdoorsy kind of social club where eco-freaks hang out. Probably be more successful as a gamers LAN social club. In all seriousness I don't think a program such as scouts could start up. It survives only because of it's historical proof of success.

The American Civil War North 1 South 0 Halftime...

As a modern example, let's assume that a few of the states decide that fossil fuels are really bad and start making people change to hybrid cars, solar heading in homes, etc. and one day we elect a president who ran on a no-gasoline platform. He gets elected by only 39% of the popular vote. The reaction to this fiat would be the exactly the same as those of the South in 1860. Their economy and way of life could not exist without slaves anymore than our way of life cannot be maintained without fossil fuels. We all know it's not a good thing to rely on these fuels, but at this point we have no alternative. Welcome to South of the Mason Dixon of 1860. They didn't view this as a racial issue as much as they saw it as those Damnyankees (yes, that's all one word to a Southerner) up north telling us what we can or can't do. I guess you're going to have to substitute Californiahippy or New Englandecosnob for the modern example. How far would we today go to protect our way of life? Their way of life would cease to exist without the economics of slavery as would our country collapse without fossil fuels. And in spite of all the rhetoric to the contrary, the residual effects of that activity after 150 years is still very much alive and well. The flag controversy proves it in spades.

I had a bad experience in Boy Scouts as a youth. After 4 years I was 2nd Class with 1 MB (Stamp Collecting) When I took on scouting as an adult, I dedicated myself to never doing to a boy what was done to me. Every now and then one comes across the Real Deal Eagle and walk away impressed. But for the most part I see former scouts trying their best to do what is right for the boys and that is just as impressive in my book.

Totally agree with you with one little caveat. Self-centered parents raise self-centered children. One must always remember that the drop-and-leave parents' children could greatly benefit from Scouting so they have a chance to see how community minded people can operate as an alternative to the message of mom and dad. It kinda reminds me of the people in my congregation that would occasionally question why I would baptize so-and-so's baby when they make no effort to come to church and be active. I would always tell them, that I baptized the baby for it's own benefit, not the parent's. Kinda rough putting up with the sluggard parents, but I see it as a personal mission to do the best I can to help the boy overcome them.

People who can't separate the racial aspects of slavery from slavery itself will always have difficulty understanding the mindset of the Southern people in the early history of our nation. Let's put it this way. Manifest Destiny, The American Dream, Go west young man!, There's gold in California/Black Hills, etc. are all racially based just as much as slavery. But no one is talking about that because we beat the crap out of the aboriginal people of this nation and put them into concentration camps until they complied. So where's the outcry against the US Flag for that atrocity? Do a Google search on Little Crow if one wishes to understand racism in America in 1862.

Scouts who have the right attitude towards life don't need an Eagle medal to tell them they are great scouts. Whenever someone does something extraordinary around me I always ask if they were ever a scout. Occasionally I get yes, I am an Eagle. But more often than not I get, yes, BUT I only got to FC or Star, or Life as if they didn't finish.... Well what they just did proved otherwise.

The weekend is a standard camporee weekend..... The ASM and myself are watching the boys.... The CC comes out for 3 hours to take my place..... My daughter and son-in-law came to visit in town for the weekend.... So now I can go into town and meet my new granddaughter for the first time.... No one can ever find time, one has to make time....it's really not all that hard. People who say they don't have time are really saying, "You are not a priority so I'm not going to make time."

Sorry @ but the issue was slavery, not states rights. If any one had a state's right beef it would have been the Northern states who were being systematically chastised for not complying with the Fugitive Slave Act. The Northern states did not want to be the bounty hunters for Southern slave owners, nor should they be forced to do so according to their resistance to the Act. The Underground Railroad was in operation well before the onset of the cession movement of the Southern States. Was secession legal? Google Hardford Convention and you will find Connecticut was on the verge of cession 50 years earlier because of the slavery issue. This slavery issue was deeply ingrained in the politics of the US right from the very beginning. It doesn't look like people are going to let it die anytime soon.

I do my training records in MicroSoft Excel/Open Office Calc. Column 1 - person's name Column 2 - Date of last certification Column 3 - Certification duration in months (CPR = 12, YPT = 24, etc.) One can also do years and convert to months. Column 1 is normally black font on white background. Conditionally format Column 1 so that if today's date is column 3 - 2 greater than column 2 change the format to black on yellow. Conditionally format Column 1 so that if today's date is column 3 - 1 greater than column 2 change the format to white on red. Every time you open the spread sheet you get a instant visual of who is in jeopardy and by how many months. Once you change the date of last certification to the new date, the name will automatically go back to black on white.

No one should have to prod a boy to get Eagle. If he does get Eagle under those conditions, it is only to please those prodding. It's okay not to get Eagle if the boy isn't interested in getting it. Oooooh, but he's so close? So what. Adults need to MYOB when it comes to other peoples' choice in life.

Yet the abolitionists of 1860 never identified the issue as racial, they identified it in a moral sense that one human should not be owning another. That was the crux of their argument. A soldier of the 8th Wisconsin commented in his journal that it was unnerving to see a blond haired, blue eyed boy as a slave. He could not tell that person from anyone back home in Wisconsin. I do believe he was having difficulty making out the racial issue in the processes in place. Long before the Civil War the lucrative slave trade was promoted by the desire for rum. No one was complaining about it at that point. It almost went out of existence on it's own until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin and made it profitable once again. And even after the South ceded from the union, there were still northern states that allowed slavery. So there was plenty of hypocrisy to go around. At least the southern states didn't make any excuses for the practice. The only reason the Indians never were enslaved (Yes, it was attempted a few times) was because they escaped too easily. They however practice slavery of their own, enslaving members of opposing tribes. To them slavery was slavery, and had nothing to do with race. They didn't care if the person was black, white or Indian, they were slaves. Of course due process and the American Dream never applied to them. They were systematically rounded up and put in concentration camps and told if they leave they will be killed. After all the only good Indian is a dead Indian. These people weren't forced to work for the whites, so they weren't slaves, just incarcerated for doing nothing wrong except honoring treaties the whites ignored. Shall I go on explaining how racist the US Stars and Stripes stand for? Like I said, the Confederate flag is just smoke and mirrors to cover up the "heritage" of the Stars and Stripes.

My personal favorite is when they punish the boy by not let them attend scouting events. You don't go to scouts unless your homework is finished. You are grounded, no scouts, etc. What they think they are doing is taking away fun activities from the boys when in fact they are denying them the program that has a chance to improve their behavior.

The buddy system has been an integral part of scouting all along. The bully junk is a recent addition that runs a bit counter to the leadership training of today's scouts. The buddy system emphasizes the awareness of a scout to think about somebody besides himself. Paper Eagles have no concept of this principle in scouting. They are in scouting only for themselves and the buddy system requirement is never really met. I'm sure most SM's pencil whip this requirement without ever understanding it's meaning down the road. So how does it play out in real life? The PL that wears the patch for 6 months and doesn't give a hoot about his boys and does the management by delegation routine to insure it looks good to the adults. I have seen this process in operation and the bully delegation is obvious. The patrol members wouldn't follow these leaders unless they were forced to by the adults. Effective management of tasks? Yep. Leadership? Nope! If my leader doesn't care about anyone but himself and doesn't really give a hoot about me, I'm not going to be following him anywhere,.... ever. And it has nothing to do with the same age patrols. I have seen boys stick with their NSP grouping all the way through Eagle and they ALL worked together as buddies to make it happen for everyone else in the group. Yes I have seen it work only a couple of times, but those boys knew what TF-#9 was all about right from the beginning.

For me, the FC is the minimum amount of knowledge for a scout to go out and survive on his own. If mastered he would be an excellent woodsman. It's the meat and potatoes of the program. If nothing else, I want all my boys to be FC, a REAL FC scout. Once there, Star, Life and Eagle are the frosting on the cake. This is where the maturity, the practical, the field work of the program happen. It isn't just meeting requirements, it is growing up part of the program. If the boy gets FC by pencil whipping in 12-18 months and has not mastered the basics, they will not be a real FC scout, nor will they be a real Star Scout, Life Scout or real Eagle scout. It's kinda like the high school graduate that can't read. They are out there, they have the diploma, but they really aren't real HS graduates that people assume have been educated and are literate.. The really sad part of the process is that the difference between a Real Eagle and Paper Eagle is often times glaringly obvious. BUT as is always brought to everyone's attention... they have met the requirements. To me, meeting the requirements means nothing. A Real Eagle has a quality about him that sets him apart and there's no requirement for that in the book.

Generals are generals because they meet the requirements..... Robert E. Lee was #1 in his class at West Point. George A. Custer was dead last in his class at West Point. How did meeting the requirements work out for them?