Images

[MaScout]

The discussion of "punks" in another thread got me to thinking about how careful we need to be about how we judge the image we have of others. Our perception is molded in great part by our experiences. As Scouters, we need to rise above that...

 

In high school, my eldest wore his hair long (like waaay below his shoulders) & sported a full beard. Why? Because he could. He took a lot of flack for it. As his parents, so did we. We were always very supportive of his choices. He didn't drink, smoke, do drugs, vandalize... He was (and is) a "good kid". He was a leader in his class and on the football field. He was an outstanding leader in band and Scouts. He is now in the Coast Guard and has very little hair on his head or face. Is he any different because of the amount of hair he sports? NO!

 

So when we see a lad with his pants sagging, a "weird" hair-do, or body piercing, do those things automatically make him a "punk"? NO! It's what's on the inside that counts. Take time to get to know the lad. If he's in Scouts, he's most likely not ALL bad! Encourage the other adults in your unit to do the same. Be that lad's advocate; you'll be his friend for life.

 

I realize I'm preaching to the choir here, for the most part, but just some thoughts.

 

I love this Scouting stuff...Ma

[Eamonn]

One of the nice things about being a little?? Older is that I wear what I like.

No peer pressure, no worries about looking cool.

One of the bad things about it is that we tend to forget that we at one time did bow down to trying to look cool and peer pressure.

I remember thinking I was the cat's whiskers in my super wide flares and platform shoes

Eamonn.

[hops_scout]

The nice things is I've been able to avoid the peer pressure to wear this or that, etc. I wear what I want when I want. Yes, I wear the Nike Shox these days, but I wear a lot of Nike stuff. For one thing, all of my school uniforms and such are Nike. For another, two of my sisters work for Champs Sports so I get good deals. If they didn't get good deals, I'd probably not wear so much Nike.