It's Not About Us

A few occurrences over the past weeks have me reflecting on our role as youth mentors. Adult association is a key method to delivering the aims of Scouting America?. Just like our scouts, we “do our best” to model scouting’s ideals outlined in the Scout Oath and Scout Law. Just like those in our charge, we raise our signs and renew our promise every single week. Also like the young people we support; we sometimes fall short of those ideals. In most cases it’s simply not understanding our role or the many complexities of the program. Other times, it’s a poor decision or a lack of self-leadership in our personal behavior.

?In my years as a scouter, I’ve been guilty of both. There have been times when I have made inaccurate assumptions or drastically misinterpreted a situation. There have also been times when I made the critical mistake of thinking that the scouting movement exists for my direct personal benefit. I offer the topics below for consideration not judgement. Scouting matters because we who give our time, talent, and treasure have an understanding that we must put the youth at the center of our mission. We must occasionally remind ourselves that it’s not about us.

Recently, The Archbishop of Cincinnati has opted to sever ties to the Girl Scouts of the USA because of the GSUSA’s “impoverished world view on gender and sexuality”. I am currently unable to reconcile that decision with the Catholic social teaching that “we are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences”. Is one to assume that only ideological differences that don’t surround sexuality or gender allow people to remain in the human family and be worthy of support? Perhaps faith leaders could consider that young people would prefer to be heard and given space to explore their spiritual journey rather than being told to conform or exit. For many of us who have directly parented teens, we have learned that if we stop engaging with them, they will seek out other support options which likely don’t have the truly unconditional love we have for them.

"Scouting encourages each young person to begin a spiritual journey through the practice of his or her faith tradition" -- Scouting America

Speaking of support, as a commissioner, I have been included in some recent conversations around adult volunteers not supporting each other. Whatever the reason, certain individuals have concerns about the approach of another unit volunteer and rather than modeling the way for the scouts, have chosen an openly confrontational approach. This has put the youth leaders of the troop in a challenging position and created an environment of tension for these young people to navigate. Here I would simply point to the words of Professor Scott Galloway who tells us that if we want to raise better youth, we need to be better (he was referring specifically to men, but one can easily expand that). There will always be differences but if we can’t set those aside and model a positive resolution approach for the good of the scouts, then perhaps we need to focus our efforts elsewhere.

Finally, as one of the troop guides for our Fall Wood Badge course I was encouraged (with a bit of kicking and screaming) to re-enter the time-wasting and generally vacuous world of Facebook for the first time since 2016. I admit that I am mostly enjoying being able to engage with my fellow scouters from across the country. I also love seeing scouting's story being told through the many wonderful examples that are shared. Unfortunately, as I experienced before in my foray into the metaverse, the cloak of supposed anonymity and ease of short reply remains troublesome. As an example, an anonymous poster asked if anyone had not “signed off” on a scoutmaster conference and wanted to know the reasons a candidate might “fail”.? Many of us who saw this replied that there is no failure in a scoutmaster conference and that this crucial conversation is an opportunity to understand the scout’s experience and help them reflect on their efforts to date. However, I was taken aback by others who vehemently believed that a scoutmaster has the power to deny a scout this conversation or add qualifiers to have the requirement considered complete. This is a good example of why adult volunteer training is important. A well-trained adult volunteer would recognize that the best source of advancement information is the Guide to Advancement and that they should never rely on social media as an authoritative source.

"No council, committee, district, unit, or individual has the authority to add to, or subtract from, advancement requirements" --The Guide to Advancement

I’ll wrap up this edition with a terrific phrase from page 6 of that very guide. “Advancement is one of several methods used to accomplish scouting’s mission and to see it otherwise is to indicate we have forgotten our purpose.” Just like advancement and the other six we utilize, adult association is a method to achieve the mission of Scouting America; to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law. It’s not about us.

Yours in Scouting,

MP

The above article reflects my personal perspective and is not affiliated, endorsed, or representative of Scouting America?