skeptic

And I thought I had too much time on my hands. Some on here need to simply go back and review the foundational elements of the program, starting with the connection to Baden Powell. If you can lay your hands on a copy, get the book Personally Speaking which is a collection of editorial comments from the past editor of Scouting, Lex Lucas, that was published after his retirement in 1965. A number of the entries seem tailor-made for this hyper "sky is falling" crowd.

Russian trolls are responsible.

I would like to thank the bearded (?; in our council many are hirsute.) sages of Scouting that have given serious responses. I find the ones that suggest the boys finding subjects, the related readings idea, and the important point of keeping any such activity short and connected to moe hands on.

The thought was that we would over time read the entire book, sort of like going through the Bible book by book. Certainly, in relation to a specific subject, it might not be a bad idea to preface a work on session with doing a reading from the handbook.

Yep, you are right. The comments are pretty reflective of our continually out of touch and unaware public. They have no idea, for the most part, how either group works in this country, or how we compare to the greater world experience. And, since so many of the concerned citizenry also would like us to divorce the entire country from the greater world theater, why would they not comprehend this? Way too many people with tunnel vision and complete ignorance of anything beyond the ends of their noses. JMHO of course. Meanwhile, hurray, and may the trend continue to build. Again JMHO.

This past weekend, discussing an upcoming planning session with the SPL, I dropped the idea of a small period fairly often of simply reading aloud a section from the Handbook. His response was far more positive than I expected. Matter of fact, he felt it might be a really good regular thing and beneficial in a number of ways. Any thoughts from this erudite group?

In regard to the lost items, it is common now for the leader with the item in question to simply ask about it and tell the owner to come after the assemble to claim it. That then puts the onus on the owner if they choose to claim it right then, or a leader of the unit in which the owner participates will come and get it and then later return it (?). I tend to agree that we have leaned way too far to the other side with these things. Fortunately, in spite of our seemingly constant over the top responses to things once simply part of life, we still have kids come out on the sunny side more often than some might expect. This too is a coping experience, sometimes for we old people.

Interesting opinion. Are you aware that there were a number of medals and other special uniform awards for War Service during both World Wars? What difference is it, really. Someone, adult or scout, sold X dollars of stamps or bonds and got such and such award, the larger ones that could be worn. There has never been a knot to recognize those, but they certainly were worn proudly. There also were medals for waste collection, War gardens, Civil Service and locally, probably others. Also, in relation to the West Knot, it is often given to someone in honor of their service by others or in honor of someone in the family or group. I was presented with two in honor of two past scouts that were killed as young adults, both for whom I was SM. I received a third one from a retired Scouter friend for my seniority in our council and our work together. He was recognizing many of his Scouter friends with them in his retirement, probably gave at least 8 to 12 before he passed away with his own 50 plus years. I wear one knot, and I know what the honor is that is attached, two Eagle Scouts and a fine dedicated Scouter friend who gave to Scouting as his own family. I admit though that initially when the first one was given to me, I did not wear it, as I had not been the one to give the dollars and I felt as if I was being a bit dishonest. It was pointed out to me that I was not honoring the memorial of the Eagles by not wearing it, and so I do. I suppose that since then I may have earned my own dollar version with donations to the local camp fund, but that does not matter.

But, if you try to find Eagles from the time before computers, and they did not get transcribed from defunct council records, do not count on National to be much help. Trying to see old paper records requires knowing the ghosts of James West or other founders.

It now occurs to me that I noted while doing research on my own unit for "lost" Eagles that we had a number of long time senior scouts with possibly the needed requirements, but who were not on any list from the period. Two or three were carried on our charter throughout WWII, listed as "In Service" or similar wording. Wonder if any of their records should be reexamined; though they are all gone now as far as I know.

It occurred to me today that our aberrant pols seem involved in an ongoing game of "Win All You Can". Valid?

This appears to be more an attempt to make more out of it than need be done. Yes, when the change in employment or title happened they should have been more conscious of the appearance of support. But, it was not their intent; more simply poor decision making by people that may not be cognizant of the residual appearance and the wording of the law. Why so many in our modern society need to constantly make waves over minor issues is beyond me, other than their own desire to somehow be noticed and project power in some manner. Another facet of the egoism that is more and more dominating our society.

A little off the OP's posting, but interesting from a historical viewpoint. I found this shooting target in my troop's archives from when they were also an NRA junior club during WWII.

At least far too many so called star of sports and the entertainment industry, as well as, unfortunately, many pols in positions of power.

It is interesting and disheartening that all of these stats are similarly seen in the downward trends in organized religious groups, especially the oldest ones, and within community-based service groups such as Elks, Lions and so on. There is very likely a connection reflective of societal malaise in general.

I cannot find the edit function on the post. Perhaps one of the mods can delete it? I overlooked the comma anyway which specifies People as opposed to the militia. So the people are not regulated in the amendment. If someone will point me to an edit function, I can take care of it too. Thanks.

"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Ahhh. This is what I see being pretty much ignored in most conversations. Does not "well-regulated mean that controls of some form, such as laws and such, are part of the right noted?

Years ago, my nephew handed me his red beret with all his scout patches and things in a box, as I was already an avid collector, and he said I should have it;. Two decades or so later, he had a son in cubs and he asked me if I still had his stuff. I had simply put it away as he gave it to me, and he was thrilled to get it all back. My grand-nephew became an Eagle and is now in a ROTC college program at the USF. He has kept his stuff, including all his dad gave him and I suspect, if he has a son (or now even a daughter) they too will be in the program. I still am trying to find out where my stuff from the fifties and early sixties that was put in a box has gone. It was in storage and the storage was cleaned out by my brother. I think somewhere in the mountain of unopened boxes in his garage in Vegas is what I hope to relocate. But, I did find a lot of it, as it never went into the storage. You never know for sure.

I can still remember my disappointment when they changed the Explorer program and took away advancement. I had just began work on the first rating for bronze when we moved to the desert. There was no post initially and the new program was being implemented with the loss of the awards. Once we started a post, it was of course under the new requirements and never really took off very well. I still feel that taking the 50's Explorer ranks away was another poor decision. They could have kept them and still done many of the other changes, including the coed stuff that started then.

So, part of the issue likely relates to the real possibility of another dragging out of "names and cases" from mining the IVF, something that BSA did that few other groups of any type attempted to monitor. It is really a bit unfair that BSA's attempt to lessen the likelihood of repeat offenders by keeping the file should later lead to their having to deal with cases long dormant due to numerous factors, including the general method of families, government, and societal responses to these types of things in an earlier time. BSA by itself could only suggest action by the family or authorities. If they chose to not pursue it, then why should its simple recording in a file, the like of which few other groups even tried to maintain, suddenly render them open to a reopened case? Basically, by doing something at the time while others did not, they are now penalized. Just an opinion, so please refrain from personal attack.

Interesting piece regarding some early historical records from the first course, including a copy of the schedule. Many of us that took our WB under some semblance of that earlier course likely feel much of it is sorely lacking today. Having taken it in 1981 or so, and then actually taught on the first edition of the 20th Century course, I am very aware of the differences. There is some positive material in the current versions, but from my perspective, we miss out on a lot in the modern course. It is like the difference between backpacking and car camping; you learn far more "responsibility" when you have to take care of yourself with what you carry. You are more likely to be self-sufficient if you have regularly backpacked, especially some real long terms. In the case of WB, learning and "using" basic core skills is far superior to just having them given to you on paper or in books as references. Still, the modern course does have some benefit, particularly if the course staff sort of add in a few things along the lines of what was just noted.

Another reason, IMHO, that the Order has lost its interest. When it truly was not simply something you could get into by becoming First Class and doing a bit of camping, while staying on the good side of the adults, it actually was an honor. Now the mystique is gone, and it is simply something else to take up your time in too many lodges, and participation is generally sash and gone for the majority. There are still some lodges that have managed to keep some of the deeper interest, but not in our area. Ceremonies are not only no longer really semi-secret, but most of them are read from scripts, often obviously not even pre-read, and regalia is minimal. For the past few years, I have spoken to all the technically eligible scouts and point blank asked them if they really care to elected, and if so will actually go to the Ordeal and give it a try afterward. There is no point in calling them out if they are not going to follow through. But we still do elections, and have a few members occasionally get more involved for a time.

valentine blush.bmp valentine blush.bmp

This was posted by one of my long ago scouts, one who has just retired from the Army as a Lt. Col and that served in Bosnia and all the other challenging locations of the era. He now has a boy in Cubs and a girl in GS. He never went beyond First Class, but was one of the avid outdoor youth with some family challenges that stayed the course until junior college. Anyway, this analogy of his seems to me to be on point. Francis Moss 1 hr · How you step on the brakes. To slow a speeding car to a stop smoothly, a driver must apply greater and greater pressure to the hydronic brake pedal until the car’s speed slows to a particular point where continued heavy pressure would lock-up the brakes and either cause the car to skid (or activate the anti-lock braking system in newer cars) or stop with a lurch, compressing the front suspension as the car’s mass suddenly stops, then harshly rocking the car backward as the suspension rebounds. Instead, a driver must let up on the brake pedal as the car slows, but not so much to release the brakes entirely, thus stopping the car smoothly and not spilling the drink they are holding that really should instead by in the cup holder or scaring passengers, other drivers, or pedestrians with a screeching stop, or smash into something in front of them. It is the same problem with the accelerator pedal, which requires greater pressure when starting from zero and much less while at cruise. It takes a while for new drivers (and experienced drivers operating unfamiliar vehicles) to get the hang of this, but most seem to get the hang of it. The added advantage to this activity is if the car does not have to come to a complete stop, such as when a light changes from red to green just as the car is stopping, there is still some stored momentum available to help the car gain speed just as smoothly as it would have stopped. “Smooth is fast and fast is smooth,” is what they say in the car racing world. I think a similar technique applies with social change activities, where pressure must be lifted sometime as the change occurs to facilitate a smooth transition. Continue with too much pressure and other things get disrupted and energy is waisted, lift too soon and you miss the limit line. The problem is judging when to do so. With learning to drive, there’s the pesky problem with judging what the car is capable of, what environmental conditions will allow, what other drivers will do, and what you can get away with. Although most can handle the pedal work, few get really, really good at dealing with all the variables and certainly not all of the time. So I see continued pushes for lots of social change that I am not sure need so much added pressure anymore and that are actually pushing so hard, they may be creating problems of their own. Could be that I’m just a backseat driver, but one in particular is girls and education. For instance, the Girl Scouts of America has the “Raise Your Hand program,” encouraging girls to speak up in class, because statistics show that boys are more aggressive with raising their hands in school. Now, that may be the case, but girls out perform boys in school and the proof of that is the statistic showing more women getting college degrees than men these days. Maybe instead of “Raise Your Hand” for girls, the Girl Scouts could team up with the Boy Scouts of America to have a “Shut Up and Listen” campaign for boys. It seems to me that the boys may be raising their hands more and speaking up, but it isn’t paying off for them, so they should be a little more like the girls, be a bit more quiet and listen before they speak. That may not be the right solution, but the disparity has shifted from women to men as far as education, which makes me think we’re past the point where we should lift up on the pedal and we have ourselves a fender bender. If the point is equality... Unfortunately, there are lots and lots of organizations whose existence depends on continuing their advocacy, even when the tipping point for the need may be past, not necessarily the GSUSA, but I hope you can see my point. It is very hard to get an advocate to quit advocating, just as it is very hard to get a general to stop trying to kill the enemy when it might be the time for diplomacy. People who have built their lives smashing one pedal have a hard time lifting and an even harder time learning how to use the other pedal. And just like being in traffic, there isn’t much you can do to teach such people, but get out of their way, hope they don’t hit you, insure yourself for the likelihood that they one day will, and sue them when they do. If they only learned how to drive.

Admittedly, I did not go back to earlier pages, but to me, this is just amusing. I immediately thought about the effect of pot on many, that is the munchies.