Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame, and also an Eagle Scout) offers this advice to newly minted Eagle Scouts:
Don't Be A Human Form Letter.
He expands on it as he explains to the Scouts in a letter why earning the Eagle Scout rank isn't quite the ticket to success that they may think it is, and why they can't sit on their past achievements while they wait for the world to recognize their greatness.
He follows up with
an email exchange with a Scout who was offended by Mike's attitude about the Eagle Scout badge.
Don’t be that guy. Don’t wait for the world to acknowledge your accomplishments. By all means, take pride in what you’ve done, but don’t let it go to your head. When you’re finished with Scouting, donate your uniform to The Salvation Army. Fold up your sash and stow it away somewhere private, with all the other tokens of what you’ve done so far. Then, roll up your sleeves, get out in the world, and put what you’ve learned to use.
Given that we are in the high season of high schools and colleges pumping out newly minted graduates that may have an over-inflated sense of the value of their accomplishments, this seemed interesting, and something that might strike a chord.
posted by COD
on Jun 14, 2010 -
72 comments
Still clocking the old Boy Scout-style uniform? Perhaps you,
like many others feel you could be more rewarded than you are today? Never fear, the "Boy Scout Store" has got your back! Develop your own program for:
aging,
blogging,
bungee jumping,
cat herding,
coffeecraft,
sexual revolution,
Facebooking,
Global Warming.
smoking cessation,
alcoholism and
recovery,
pranksterism,
neighbor relations,
robot building,
incendiary devices,
antisocial activities,
street hooking, and, of course
underwater basketweaving. Display your training in
instigation and
agitation. Maybe you feel you
speak the language.
Remember --
Scouting is for all.
posted by Ogre Lawless
on Jan 21, 2010 -
38 comments
Boy Scouts
tell Atheist Eagle Scout he has one week to declare his belief or get out.
On membership applications,
Boy Scouts and adult leaders must say they recognize some higher power, not necessarily religious. "Mother Nature would be acceptable," said Brad Farmer, the Scout executive of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts. Hmmmm...
posted by quirked
on Oct 30, 2002 -
45 comments
Boston Boy Scouts allow gay leaders
I have many friends who were Eagle Scouts. They all say that there were many openly gay scouts during their time. This whole issue strikes me as purely technical.
What do other Scouts at Metafilter think?
posted by awcole72
on Aug 1, 2001 -
20 comments
Senate passes amendment withholding money from schools that deny use of their facilities to the Boy Scouts on the grounds of their exclusion of homosexuals. Says Jesse Helms, sponsor of the amendment to Bush's education bill, this is meant to combat "the organized lesbians and homosexuals in this country of ours." Is this justified in light of the Supreme Court's
ruling that the Scouts have the right to exclude whomever they wish, or just flat out anti-homosexual?
posted by zempf
on Jun 14, 2001 -
34 comments
NYC latest to threaten ban on Scouts NYC Council disagrees with national organization's policy that homosexuality is inconsistant with Scouting's prinicples, and wants time to try and change national organization's views. Free subscription required.
posted by darren
on Mar 1, 2001 -
26 comments
Boy Scouts: 1 Gay Memebers: 0 Court Says Boy Scouts Can Bar Gays, which is slightly troubling, in that a psuedo-national organization can make rules that go against government policy. I don't see how a scoutmaster being gay has anything to do with teaching kids how to tie knots and go camping though.
posted by mathowie
on Jun 28, 2000 -
52 comments
Supreme Court Debates Boy Scout Ban on Gay Leaders You have to love the comparison used here...
"Justice Antonin Scalia, the other former Boy Scout on the court, sought to help Davidson, interjecting the group did not ask if leaders were ``ax murderers'' or ``adulterers'' either."
It's always nice to be reminded what a horrible person some people think you are.
posted by bvanveen
on Apr 26, 2000 -
0 comments
