Mr. Jesse went by the book, but he never threw the book at you. He was always respectful and always interested in that scared shy kid I was back almost 30 years.
I loved Mr. Jesse for who he was and for the fact that he never put me down, like some leadership at the time when I left Scouting. If Mr. Jesse had been in charge I may have never left. But that's an argument I can have with myself for the rest of my life and never win. What happened, happened. At the time I felt like I had to stand up for myself in the fact that the leader at that time, I felt like treated us like were under a dictatorship and not in something that was supposed to taken serious, but at the same time fun. Fun wasn't a word we heard or even thought about at that time or at least that's how I felt about the situation.
My brother Brian and I sat on the back row of the Mint Hill McEwen Chapel and I took in the "Court of Honor" a tradition in the BSA for special occasions and this was very special.
I was struck at how central God was to the service, and amazed that in our politically correct world that the Boy Scouts of America are still standing up for faith and respect for beliefs of others at the same time.
I ran into my cousin who is now the Scout Master for Troop 65, and couldn't help but be struck by the fact that one of wildest boys of the troop back in the day, turned out to be a great leader. I sat there with a bit of pride in my cousin for how far he's come in life and how well spoken he is. I could tell the boys respected him from just a few interactions I saw between them. Respect for elders and authority is something sorely lacking in our all-about-me society.
And now I get to my title of this post and the badge you see above. When I left Scouting, I was at rank of First Class. Next would have been Star, then Life, then finally a very small number of boys go on to Eagle Scout rank.
I still admire boys that make it to the rank of Eagle, it's not an easy task. It's a lot to remember and do and try to do for all the right reasons, but yet some do make it to that level.
I heard my cousin read part of an article that Mr. Jesse had brought in one Monday night (Monday night was/is the troop's meeting night) about how many former Boy Scouts go on in life to be very successful leaders and men in their communities.
I'm proud to be a former Boy Scout, the organization has been under attack the past decade or so and while I won't go into that debate, I'll just say that I full support their current beliefs even the most recent decisions because it is based on a Biblical view and the BSA are founded at the core with Christian values.
I'll close this post with what I tried to remember tonight and say with the other Scouts the Boy Scout Oath:
On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my Country
and to obey the Scout Law;To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.
If we could all follow that oath in life, what a better world this would be.
In respect for the above blog, I'll forgo my normal closing and just say Godspeed Mr. Jesse , I'll see you on the other side.
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