A big, clueless Boy Scout

[fgoodwin]

A big, clueless Boy Scout

 

http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2005-08-25/essay.asp

 

For Bush, its all one big jamboree

 

By Alison Rood

 

The photograph in the newspaper showed George W. Bush standing at a podium in Bowling Green, Va., on July 31, addressing approximately 50,000 Boy Scouts at their National Scout Jamboree. He was paying tribute to the four Scout leaders who were electrocuted when a metal pole in their dining tent touched power lines.

 

He dished out the usual clichs about patriotism and community and military service. He told the boys they honored the dead leaders by following the scouting ideals their leaders stood for. He used the words character, kindness and models of good citizenship. In the photograph, hordes of Scouts in green fatigue uniforms were cheering wildly.

 

The whole thing made me slightly ill.

 

Id been vacationing in Washington, D.C., and part of Virginia two weeks before that speech, and I got an eyeful of Boy Scouts wearing jamboree T-shirts, obviously exploring the nations capital before heading off to their big blowout. I watched them get admonished by security guards at the Lincoln Memorial when they climbed on structures where they werent allowed. I saw them hurtle through crowds at the National Air and Space Museum with no regard for the people they almost knocked down. And, when I stood at John F. Kennedys grave at Arlington National Cemetery, I observed a large group of them acting like they were on a field trip to Disneyland instead of in a graveyard filled with dead soldiers.

 

Im sure everyone reading this who has a well-mannered Scout in the family will take offense at what I just wrote, but Im only reporting my personal experience. I saw a lot of those jamboree-bound boys, their shirts covered with so much bling commemorating their many accomplishments, behaving more like disrespectful goofballs than model citizens. Monuments to those who died in battle loomed everywhere, but the Scouts seemed oblivious to the serious nature of war and death.

 

Interesting that Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld all are former Boy Scouts with no reason to comprehend a war monument, either: Bushs highly questionable hitch in the Texas Air National Guard kept him out of Vietnam, and Cheney avoided the same war with five deferments--four because he was a student and one because he was a father. Rumsfeld served in the Navy during the mid-1950s, but as secretary of defense, he didnt have the common decency to issue hand-signed sympathy notes to the families of Americans killed in Iraq until someone gave him a wakeup call.

 

I couldnt help noticing, too, that the 2005 Scout jamboree took place at Fort A.P. Hill, an Army base in Virginia, and that the pep talk Bush gave to the crowd of uniformed, flag-waving adolescents whose leaders had been electrocuted seemed a lot like one of his speeches to war-weary troops whove watched their comrades die in Iraq. Bushs spiel on patriotism, duty and honorable death was as canned as the school report one of those goofy Scouts undoubtedly will write on the topic What the National War Monuments Meant to Me.

 

Then again, maybe Bush thought he was at a military recruitment drive.

 

This was my first trip to Washington, D.C., so I had no idea that most of our hallowed shrines pay homage to those who died on the battlefield, from the Civil War to World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. Even many of the displays in the Air and Space Museum were devoted to war. And while I was humbled by the sacrifice of so much life, and in particular understood the significance of the Allied effort in World War II, the realization that war and its grim results are the themes of our more famous monuments was depressing. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall was devastating proof that those in power can make decisions that cause a horrifying number of men and women to die. The deaths are duly noted on plaques, walls and statues and accompanied by suitable words from distinguished statesmen about the bravery of the dead. Flags wave above the memorials to the deceased to remind us that its patriotic to give our lives in war.

 

In the midst of all that, the tour buses come and go, people snap pictures, and souvenir stands peddle postcards and memorabilia. Families wolf down ice-cream bars, bands of teenagers put wrestling moves on each other, and little kids look around for the nearest face-painting booth. Someone plops down on a bench and complains about the blister on her foot.

 

In Arlington National Cemetery, I stared at the acres of immaculate white markers, and it had the same effect on me as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall: visible, mind-numbing evidence that an insane number of people die in wars. Some tourists--a lot of them, really--were able to walk past the graves in Arlington and along the Vietnam wall and still chat and laugh in a normal fashion, as if they were just strolling through a pretty park. But I couldnt stop thinking about war and death and what its all supposed to mean in terms of patriotism. I couldnt bring myself to buy a single souvenir.

 

A group of Boy Scouts clustered noisily around John F. Kennedys grave, disrupting the otherwise sober atmosphere as they jostled one another and grinned in front of the eternal flame while someone took a picture. It was like watching Bush posing in his flight suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier with that silly grin on his face. At that point, I decided Id had about all I could stand of Washington, D.C. As we left Arlington, I happened to see a squirrel sitting quietly on a soldiers grave eating a nut. It was the first thing all day that made sense to me.

 

When Bush addressed the Boy Scouts in Bowling Green, he was talking to kids who were too busy goofing off at the Lincoln Memorial to bother reading the Gettysburg Address. And what about Bush? Has he checked out any of the memorials in his neighborhood lately? Has he bothered to take a good hard look at the Vietnam wall as he continues his mission in Iraq? Or is he still just a big, clueless Boy Scout himself?

 

But goofy, disrespectful Boy Scouts like the ones I observed in Washington, D.C., are the perfect audience for George Bush. The predominantly white, anti-gay, churchgoing boys already feel the thrill of putting on a uniform, moving up the ranks and earning medals. Theyve got a long way to go before theres any need for them to realize what a war memorial is really all about, but theyre heading in the right direction.

[Adrianvs]

I wonder if Ms. Rood will answer for the death tolls of the ideologies she supports. I wonder if she really believes that the dead are disturbed or disgraced by the presence of flag-waving adolescents. I wonder if the dead are disturbed or disgraced by the presence of spiteful and malicious journalists.

 

Ms. Rood pretends that it is the death that sickens her, but it appears to really be the life.

[jr56]

Typical liberal BS. But I do point out to the boys when we go places that they are representing the BSA, and when they do something like not display proper respect at military monuments for example, their actions stand out like a sore thumb.

[evmori]

It might be typical liberal stuff, but she does have a point about the behavior she witnessed. The SPL or ASPL or adult leadership should have reigned these boys in.

 

Ed Mori

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[CA_Scouter]

If you were to take everything this person said at face value, then yes, the boys were out of line. Reading the article, you might get the impression that all 40,000 scouts at the Jamboree were all participating in this crazy behavior.

 

Of course, I had to turn my monitor sideways to read the article, being slanted the way it was...

 

Our Charter Organization ( a volunteer fire dept ) has a few members who complain about our scouts being noisy at the end of the evening. Well, this is 'game' time... Can you imagine the horror? Nineteen 12-14 yr olds playing a game outside and making NOISE!!??!!??

 

Point is, you see what you want to see, and all this person can see is the bad stuff...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kahuna]

Yeah, the liberal take on everything positive is negative. Nothing new there! I have witnessed Scouts behaving as she describes, however, and it certainly doesn't speak well for the leaders. I made three trips to Washington with groups of Scouts and every one of them knew that behavior like that, if repeated, would put them on the first flight home. Our boys goofed around as much as any, but we made them understand that when they were in public, and especially in public at places like Ms. Rood mentions, they were expected to have some decorum (nothing excessive, mind you ).

[Vicki]

I happen to think that this author lacks charity but gotta go with jr56 on this one - unless the correct behavior is pointed out and enforced (oh, Lord, please help me but it feels like a million times! ), it will not happen.

 

Real-life example - our troop went to Shiloh, TN where there's a huge military park. We had a talk with our scouts about where we were going, the importance of it, the need for appropriate behavior and what that is. Only had to remind a few of them every once in a while during the several hours we were there. Fine, they're 12 to 16, short memory/attention span. Another troop was there, acting like a bunch of primates - swinging on the monuments, jumping on and off of them. No adults in sight. I assume they were at the visitor's center. When reminded of appropriate behavior, they quit (at least until we were gone).

 

Point: as adults, we must be there and be corrective. Civilization doesn't just "happen", it's taught. Repeatedly.

 

Vicki

[Vicki]

But ya know what really frosts my chaps about this article? One, the idea that our boys are being raised to be cannon fodder (the last paragraph). That one sort of sends me ballistic, actually, until I consider the source. She absolutely does not understand the nature of patriotism.

 

Two, her objection to the fact that life goes on - families enjoying ice cream, people taking pictures, etc.

 

Again, total lack of charity.

 

Vicki

[KoreaScouter]

As a counter to what the author of that article witnessed, or thinks she witnessed, at Arlington, I can only point to the Memorial Day Good Turn that Aloha Council sponsors each year. On that Sunday, 3000 Hawaii Scouts in field uniforms attend an outdoor ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, aka The Punchbowl. After the ceremony, these Scouts fan out and decorate over 40,000 graves with American flags and flower leis in preparation for the actual ceremony the following day. Boys will often pause to read the names, what war they fought in, when they died, and figure out how old they were. Often, they will go back to a grave to straighten a flag, rearrange a lei, or brush some debris off the headstone. The whole thing takes less than 30 minutes, and when they're finished, it's a sight that'll choke you up. Everybody knows on Monday who did it, too, because our local news stations are out there on Sunday filming it for the 6:00 news.

 

Are all our boys angels all the time? Nope, those angels' halos will slip, too, from time to time. But I would submit that it's not fair to judge a boy's character by a snapshot, anecdotal observation when he may not have been at his best. By the same token, I'm sure Ms. Rood has done things she isn't proud of, whether it's cut someone off in traffic, been less than courteous to a service employee somewhere, or snapped at her kids (assuming she has a family). The big difference between her and those Scouts is that the boys don't have an axe to grind or a national forum to grind it in.

 

KS

[Vicki]

Our Scouts do the MDGT too - an opening ceremony, with bagpipes, at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. Then we fan out to put flags on the graves (no leis, here). Very moving.

 

Thanks,

Vicki(This message has been edited by Vicki)

[firstpusk]

vicki,

 

I think that her article should be taken as a warning to scouters taking groups of scouts out in public. The behavior she witnessed is inexcusable. I have seen scouts behave admirably and I have seen them behave in the manner she witnessed. Charity has nothing to do with it. Like it or not, this example is a reflection on every single one of us. She caught some of our own setting a rather poor example. I think we should be thankful for her warning and try to make sure our own units aren't doing the same.

[Vicki]

first, I'm not sure you got the message in my first post, or maybe I'm not reading yours correctly.

 

I believe we agree.

 

Vicki

[Vicki]

OK, now I've had a few minutes to reflect on the comment, "charity has nothing to do with it". Charity has everything to do with the attitude of her article, not just the Boy Scout part of it, and that's what I meant. I've already posted my opinion on that. She gives no one any slack in her article - she is an equal opportunity basher of conservative politicians, families, teenagers, kids and even people with blisters on their feet. I'll bet she's never experienced a tolerant smile in her life.

 

Life's too short.

Vicki

[firstpusk]

I am pretty willing to bet that she has experienced a tolerant smile or two and probably given a few - even to conservatives.

[Hunt]

During or just before the Jamboree, my daughter and I visited the National Zoo in Washington. There were a large number of Scouts there, and I didn't observe any particular problems with their behavior. There was one thing I did notice, though. We were in the Bird House, and went up into the outdoor enclosed aviary. While we were there, a single Boy Scout in uniform, maybe 16 years old, came in and looked around. He didn't say anything to us, and we didn't say anything to him--but it occurred to me that he was there--by himself--because he was interested in birds. I felt that here was an excellent ambassador for Scouting, although he didn't really do anything noteworthy.