Should We or They Be Embarrassed; or Both?

[skeptic]

Not sure which place to put this; maybe it belongs in the more controversial forum.

 

Thinking about how often we discuss the "honor" and "respect" Eagle Scouts so often are shown, and how they are such great positive role models in our society. And, this is primarily very true. But, I am finding myself more and more challenged to accept certain Eagles as particularly good examples to scouts or society. What is particularly embarrassing to me are the great many that now populate our government at high levels, both on the national and state levels.

 

It seems to me that the majority of these individuals have forgotten the simple precepts of the Scout Oath and Law. Certainly few are adhering very well to them, based on their lack of simply doing the jobs for which they were elected. Some have come out with positions and statements that blatantly slap the ideals of Scouting directly across the face. Of course there are similar examples in other areas of our society; but the worst, and most egregious to me are the ones getting overpaid by us to run our country, states, and communities, yet do nothing but spar and barter for money and power for themselves and their immediate "connections".

 

Maybe these are the Eagles that should be returning their medals, since they seem to have forgotten what it still represents, in spite of their actions.

[Nike]

I think we are over valuing an award won by teenagers for essentially completing a task list. It's an award, not sainthood.

[RememberSchiff]

nor even knighthood.

[SR540Beaver]

Of course, then there are Eagle Scouts who become lawyers..........

[Basementdweller]

Eagle is an illusion.....

 

Eagle is a brand.....

 

The is absolutely zero quality control at any level......We have pot smoking, shoplifting, bullying, and fist fighting young men earning it.

 

So what level of leadership to earn eagle???? is a figure head SPL good enough or does it need to be a PL who runs patrol hikes and Patrol only campouts and outings.

 

I think a whole lot less of eagle now then I used too.

[Stosh]

In order to be embarrassed, one has to have a certain level of caring about the situation. If people do certain activities because they don't care whether it matters or not, then they will never be embarrassed.

 

Stosh

[st0ut717]

Eagle is but one measure. It is a step that say i did something. It is not much different than a high shcoold kid that make state championship football.

I actually started to wear my fish to scout meetings to keep the eagles quiet.

[walk in the woods]

Can you judge the value of Eagle by a handful of bad examples? How many Eagles are there living productive lives, rearing their kids, serving their families and communities honorably? We don't hear about the regular every day Eagles like that. And ultimately, isn't that what we are shooting for? Everyday heroes? There have been 2,000,000+ Eagles. How many bad actors? A handful? 2%, 5%?

 

Eagle means a lot of things to a lot of different people? Should an Eagle be Bear Grylls AND Mr. Smith Goes to Washington AND an astronaut AND movie maker AND a deep sea explorer AND.....

 

Maybe I'm wrong and in fact 50% of Eagles do go on to become congressmen and hedge fund managers but I suspect there are many more living simple lives.

[Basementdweller]

Can you judge the value of Eagle by a handful of bad examples? How many Eagles are there living productive lives, rearing their kids, serving their families and communities honorably? We don't hear about the regular every day Eagles like that. And ultimately, isn't that what we are shooting for? Everyday heroes? There have been 2,000,000+ Eagles. How many bad actors? A handful? 2%, 5%?

 

Eagle means a lot of things to a lot of different people? Should an Eagle be Bear Grylls AND Mr. Smith Goes to Washington AND an astronaut AND movie maker AND a deep sea explorer AND.....

 

Maybe I'm wrong and in fact 50% of Eagles do go on to become congressmen and hedge fund managers but I suspect there are many more living simple lives.

Here is a fun statistic......

 

We are churning out 50,000 eagles a year so best case we have 1,000 new Eagles a year who are bad eggs.....worst case using your numbers ......2500

 

 

I personally know 4 eagles 20 somethings in da hood.......From good families.....all caught in the substance loop. They are not from da hood but from the rich burb a crossed the beltway.

[walk in the woods]

Can you judge the value of Eagle by a handful of bad examples? How many Eagles are there living productive lives, rearing their kids, serving their families and communities honorably? We don't hear about the regular every day Eagles like that. And ultimately, isn't that what we are shooting for? Everyday heroes? There have been 2,000,000+ Eagles. How many bad actors? A handful? 2%, 5%?

 

Eagle means a lot of things to a lot of different people? Should an Eagle be Bear Grylls AND Mr. Smith Goes to Washington AND an astronaut AND movie maker AND a deep sea explorer AND.....

 

Maybe I'm wrong and in fact 50% of Eagles do go on to become congressmen and hedge fund managers but I suspect there are many more living simple lives.

There are three Eagles in my workplace of 150 or so folks; all working for a living, paying taxes, supporting their families families. I suppose they could also be walking down to 63rd St. for a fix every afternoon but they don't strike me as such. Small sample sizes and all. My point to the OP is even if you look at all the Eagles in Congress and the State House etc. I think you're still judging a large group by an unrepresentative (either in size or scope) sample size.

[Basementdweller]

Can you judge the value of Eagle by a handful of bad examples? How many Eagles are there living productive lives, rearing their kids, serving their families and communities honorably? We don't hear about the regular every day Eagles like that. And ultimately, isn't that what we are shooting for? Everyday heroes? There have been 2,000,000+ Eagles. How many bad actors? A handful? 2%, 5%?

 

Eagle means a lot of things to a lot of different people? Should an Eagle be Bear Grylls AND Mr. Smith Goes to Washington AND an astronaut AND movie maker AND a deep sea explorer AND.....

 

Maybe I'm wrong and in fact 50% of Eagles do go on to become congressmen and hedge fund managers but I suspect there are many more living simple lives.

I work with 4 Scoutmasters and 20 some eagle scouts.....of course there is 8,000 folks in my building. Earning a decent living......

 

Just saying...

 

My point is Eagles are just people and as nike pointed out they merely completed a checklist

[Scouter99]

Eagle is but one measure. It is a step that say i did something. It is not much different than a high shcoold kid that make state championship football.

I actually started to wear my fish to scout meetings to keep the eagles quiet.

Your fish?

[King Ding Dong]

Eagle is but one measure. It is a step that say i did something. It is not much different than a high shcoold kid that make state championship football.

I actually started to wear my fish to scout meetings to keep the eagles quiet.

Don't understand the fish thing.

 

There is a big difference. Your genes play a huge role in making state championship football. Eagle is obtainable by all that want to work for it.

[moosetracker]

The award is the tasks, it doesn't mean any more.. What you hope, is that the time spent doing the award was spent working with a good group of people both adult leaders and peers that help formulate the values you are hoping he receives at the end of the journey.. But some troop do not give this added bonus, they just go through the tasks like a shopping list, and there are no side benefits..

 

Even if the troop gave the young man a good foundation, they leave scouting and as the time slips away, so could be the values they learn depending on what other people and situations they get into..

 

The strangest thing I hit was going to an Eagle court for a young man who was in my sons cub scout den, but then they went to different troops, after the ceremony part as we had refreshments, I found out that the man getting his Eagle award was currently incarcerated for drug trafficking in his school.. The prison system gave him a one day furlough so he could attend his own Eagle court.. Don't know if he had his Eagle Board before being arrested or not.. I have a feeling that even if he was arrested before it, there was any way that the Eagle Board could deny him the award because of it, because he had done the shopping list of tasks, and this was a situation outside of scouting.

[Nike]

Eagle is but one measure. It is a step that say i did something. It is not much different than a high shcoold kid that make state championship football.

I actually started to wear my fish to scout meetings to keep the eagles quiet.

Submariner's badge?