Mike Rowe Offers a Potential Eagle Scout His Eagle Perspective

[mikecummings157]

Someone on a local scout group sent this along from Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch). It's his response to a dad asking for help encouraging his son to get his Eagle.

 

Mike Offers a Potential Eagle Scout His Eagle Perspective

Still: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind,Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent...okay maybe not so clean!

 

Mike,

I'm not sure where I heard that you are an Eagle Scout, which brings me

to my question. Could you PLEASE take a moment & post to my 13 year old

son Kelby & encourage him to finish scouting (& anything else that'll

help with this?) Reason I'm asking is that he only lacks 1 1/2 - 2

years in reaching Eagle, but some of his buddies have got him to thinking

scouting isn't cool at his age.

Thanks much, Gary -- scooterdave

*****

Kelby,

 

Your Dad asked me to drop you a line and say something

inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the

determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It's a reasonable

request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But

here's the thing - The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who

need to be dragged across the finish line. It's meant for a select

few,and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through.

 

Statistically, I suspect you do not. Only one out of a hundred

Scouts make Eagle, so if you fail, there will be lots of other people

with whom you can share excuses. Quitting now might disappoint your

Dad,but I doubt that he or anyone else will be overly surprised. Anytime

99 out of 100 people do the same thing, it's not exactly a shock.

 

I'm not trying to be cute with a bunch of reverse psychology.

When I was 15, there was nothing that anyone could have said to me

thatwould have inspired me to do something I didn't want to do,

especially a stranger with a TV show. So I'm not going to assume you're any

different, or pretend that I have some influence or insight that you

haven't already heard from a dozen other people who actually know and

care about you.

 

I'll just tell you straight up, that doing something

extraordinary can be very lonely, and most people simply aren't cut

out for it. Being an Eagle Scout requires you to be different than most

everyone around you, and being different is really, really hard.

That's why the award is called "an accomplishment."

 

Personally, and for whatever it's worth, the best decisions I've

made in my own life, are those decisions that put me on the outside of

being cool. Singing in the Opera, working in home shopping, staring in

the school play when the entire football team laughed at me, and

especially earning my Eagle, were all choices that required sacrifice,

hard work, and delayed gratification. I have no idea if you possess

those qualities, or even envy them. But I can tell you for certain,

that NOT getting your Eagle, will be one of the easiest things you've ever

done.

 

Anyway, I have no idea if you would prefer an easy life of

predictability and mediocrity, or if have the passion to follow the

road less traveled. Only you get to decide that.

 

Good Luck,

Mike

[Gold Winger]

Well said Mr. Rowe. Of course, when I said similar things to my son my wife smacked me with a frying pan and said that I was being negative as well as not being supportive.

[scoutldr]

Priceless!

 

I told my own son much the same thing..."if I have to spoonfeed you in order to make Eagle, then you're not Eagle material". He's still pissed at me about that (he's a Life for Life, but it was HIS choice to make, not mine).

[BulldogBlitz]

this is absolutely great. it is something i've said for some time. i shared it with my troop. unfortunately, i believe that most of the parents (the ones doing the dragging) won't understand the message. the demands will still be as strong, the expectations will still be there.