boy scouts of america

Chris Knight's avatar

Finally, some sanity is returning to Scouting.

But is it too little, too late?

On My Honor, Norman Rockwell

 

A few hours ago it was announced that Scouting America, what was formerly Boy Scouts of America, is no longer allowing transgender members and it is abandoning “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies.

It has made this vow to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has previously raised concerns about the “woke” tilt that Scouting has made in recent years.
This is a massive win for Scouting traditionalists, who have been against many of the changes that the organization has made over the past decade and a half or so.  The worst, in my belief as an Eagle Scout, was allowing homosexuals into the ranks.  Scouting’s ideals are incompatible with any sexual behavior other than monogamous heterosexuality.  A Scout takes an oath to “Keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and
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Chris Knight's avatar

 

Those are the words that I first spoke as an eleven-year-old in the fall of 1985.  And I have done my very best to live up to them, every day since.

That is how I choose to remember what it is to be a Boy Scout.  They are the words that I made a lifetime commitment to uphold.

As of today the Boy Scouts of America is no more.  It is now “Scouting America”.  Supposedly something for everyone.

Which is something that it can not be if we’re going to be realistic about it.

This
isn’t the popular thing to say, but here it is: boys and girls are
different.  They always have been and they always will be.  They have
DRASTICALLY different needs physically, mentally, and emotionally. 

At
their best the individual Boy Scouts and Girl
Scouts movements address those needs admirably (I’m not passing judgment
on one ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

See
this?  It’s an enlargement.  The originals are about the size of modern printed currency…

 

I first saw this at a Boy Scout camporee in September of 1985.  I
was a brand new full Boy Scout.  They were handing out life-size copies
of this: A ten shilling note used during the Siege of Mafeking during the Boer War in South Africa.

It dates back to 1900.  Colonel Robert Baden-Powell, who later started the entire Scouting movement, had these
printed up and used in place of scarce real currency.  After the siege was
lifted and true money started flowing again these were redeemable for
actual ten shilling coins.

My friend and grandfather figure Doc Lewis told me about all that.  The “shillings” they were handing out during the camping event were
copies of an actual siege note that our local Boy Scout council had in its possession.

I’ve
been ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

 A few nights ago I was propped up in bed, just randomly looking up things with my iPad.  And I came upon something truly, truly special.  It is for me anyway…

It’s on the website for the Order of the Arrow lodge of the Boy Scout council that I was in.  This photo dates to 1954.  The man on the right, in the light uniform shirt, is Allan “Doc” Lewis.  He was a lifelong educator and advocate for Scouting.  In the photo he and the other man (C. Lin Adams) are wearing their Order of the Arrow sashes, which indicate that they were Vigil rank.  The OA was especially near and dear to Doc’s heart, as it symbolized true brotherhood and service.

I know these things about Doc, and much more, because he was the grandfather that I never got to have.  I suspect a lot of young men ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

I received it during my Eagle Scout ceremony at Fairview Baptist Church in Reidsville, North Carolina on August 16th, 1992.

It immediately went into my wallet.

I have carried my Eagle Scout card with me ever since.  It has been with me through college, across the ocean, through some very dark times and into some very wonderful times.

I’ve never been without it.  I had long planned to someday be buried with it.

Moments ago I removed my Eagle Scout card from my wallet.  I do not plan to carry it with me ever again.

Within the past hour it has been announced that the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America has passed a resolution to allow openly homosexual members.

This is incompatible with the spirit and the meaning of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law.  The principles of Scouting are about being the best that God ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

If true… IF this is at all true… this represents the most insane turn of events that I have ever seen coming out of the Boy Scouts of America in my thirty-some years affiliated with the organization.

The honor of a Boy Scout, painting by Norman Rockwell

First, I wish to direct your attention to an article by Austin Ruse on the website for Catholic publication Crisis Magazine.  Titled “Something Rotten in the Boy Scouts”, Ruse raises a red flag about apparent manipulation of data at the Boy Scouts home office regarding the possible change of policy that would allow boys of homosexual orientation to have membership in the Boy Scouts.

Awright, let me be put it this way: the home office is ignoring the data from its own survey!  From the article:

There’s deception going on in the front office of the Boy Scouts. It includes

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Chris Knight's avatar

The Boy Scouts of America has been a part of my life since I was eight years old, in the fall of 1982.  That was more than thirty years ago.

I started in the Cub Scouts.  I earned my Bobcat, Wolf and Bear ranks.  In fifth grade I graduated to the Webelos Scouts and earned the Arrow of Light.  A few months later I became a full-fledged Boy Scout.  And that was one of the happiest points of my childhood.

It was like choosing to be a part of something with high ideals that I would always be striving to understand and fulfill.  I guess you could say it was like being a medieval squire, doing his best and learning all he could and gaining skills and experience.  Until the day when he would be dubbed at last a knight and forever honored as an avatar of virtue, honor and ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

I hope these kids understand that emergency first aid in the real world is kinda hard to do while running around the landscape looking for medpacks.

The Boy Scouts of America is now offering a Video Games merit award for its younger members: those who are part of the Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts. There are actually two awards: the Video Games belt loop (one of those metal belt ornaments, which I always thought were pretty innovative) and an academics pin, which is earned after getting the belt loop. Among the requirements for the decoration: “Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game”, “Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork”, and “With an adult’s supervision, install a gaming system” (click here for the full list of requirements).

Now, ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

On February 8th, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was founded by William D. Boyce, Edward S. Stewart and Stanley D. Willis. It had been Boyce who first discovered the Boy Scouts in Great Britain during a trip there in 1909, and thought that it would be a good thing for the youth of the United States as well.

A hundred years later, more than 110 million Americans have taken part in the Boy Scouts of America in some form or another. More than two million of them have earned the rank of Eagle Scout (and it’s been one of the greatest and most humbling honors of my life to be among them).

So Happy One-Hundredth Birthday to the Boy Scouts of America! It’s come a long way… but I’ve a feeling that Scouting’s best days are yet to come.

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