Astronauts like Neil Armstrong.
Film directors like Steven Spielberg.
Presidents like Gerald Ford.
These guys are
Eagle Scouts, just like
me. So?
Nothing. That's it. Just a similar achievement.
Being an
Eagle Scout used to be a
big deal. The whole town
celebrated the
advancement of a
scout to the highest rank in the entire
Boy Scouts organization. The scout became part of a higher
brotherhood among Boy Scouts. A huge
ceremony took place each time a scout became an Eagle Scout. At such a meeting all of the scout's
friends,
family,
fellow scouts,
scoutmasters from over the years, and the higher
officials in the local scout
organizations would all come together (most likely in a
church basement) and recognize the scout as something
special.
I told my mom that if she announced my Eagle rank in the newspaper that I would hurt her.
Why? Boy Scouts are nothing but made fun of anymore. Sure, the ranks
impress adults over the age of 35, but everyone else makes fun of you. It's like being part of a
dork club. It's
embarrassing, and I could never
figure out why. Never. I had
mountains of
stress finishing the requirements of the Eagle rank, and because I cared so much what other people thought, I was embarrassed.
People ask me why I complain so much.
I
literally spent hours planning my
service project. The service project is the last BIG thing in finishing the Eagle
requirements (which for me doubled as
finishing scouts, which was what I wanted to do long before). The service project consists of a project that you plan and
lead that does something
positive for the
community,
school, or
church, and the total number of hours that it has to fill is
6 or more. You are to lead a group of other scouts through the project to complete your planned
goal.
Examples of service projects I worked on for other scouts were laying bark on
nature trails, planting trees at the
golf course, filling
sand bags during a bad
Missouri drought, or putting up new signs in a
campground.
Good things.
Anyways, all this work, at least for me (my service project was a
joke that I care not to talk about anyway), did not
pay off. I was not recognized by the town. I chose not to be, mostly because it would
flag the beginning of what I knew would be the
harshest
onslaught of
harrassment I would ever have to receive in the horrible waste
pit that was
Taylorville.
I was stupid.
I am an
Eagle Scout. Other Eagle Scouts like me have received
awards,
scholarships, and other forms of
recognition for doing the same things I have.
In fact, I bet that I did more for my Eagle than
Steven Spielberg,
Neil Armstrong, or
Gerald Ford did for theirs. The requirements have
increased over the years, and are much harder to
fulfill than in the past.
I am an
Eagle Scout. I can
declare it to people and not lie. That is what it has gotten me. I can
surprise new friends with it
involuntarily because it
will come up in
conversation. I realize how stupid I was to be embarrassed of it in the past.
I am an
Eagle Scout. I spent ten
years in the
basement of a church, in the
forests of
Illinois and
Missouri, in the
back yard of said church, and in the
parks of my hometown. What do I have to show for it? A
packet. In the packet is the actual Eagle
badge (patch), the Eagle Scout
medal, a
certificate that says I'm important, and a small
booklet of things they want to
sell me and my
family because I worked so hard to get there. Yes, ten paragraphs and I finally get to my
point...
What is left in this world when of all things
holy, all things
sacred, all things
loved, when the
National Eagle Scout Association tries to sell you things for achieving the highest
recognized rank in the
National Council of the Boy Scouts of America? Has
capitalism and
greed permeated every last
drop of what was once
pure in this country?
Is anything not for sale? Can anything escape its own potential for profit?
You know what?
I am an Eagle Scout.
I say fuck the National Eagle Scout Association.
Anyone want to buy my official Eagle Scout badge for $5?
Ok, everyone has taken this the wrong way and I am now
swimming in
criticism. Let me add one note that should
balance what I've said a bit more: the local
politics that surround the
Boy Scouts in each town
make what you get out of it. When I started
scouting, I had
wonderful leaders and great fun all around. The
deterioration of my local troop didn't just happen among the scouts themselves. The reason so many were
quitting was that they had other
high school things to do
and that the leaders were leaving and
shitty leaders were replacing them.
I put in a lot. I got out a lot. But that's not what this node is about. If you want to know what I learned from scouts, I can tell you. Here:
What I learned in Boy Scouts. I'm talking solely about the
Eagle rank here and the things surrounding it for
me. This is my own
selfish venting.
Everything's different for everyone.
Man, I never go back to a node and put replies up. argh.
TaintedTex: This was not a personal attack. You obviously had a different experience than me in scouts and that's fine. Calm down...
And if your job is the only reason you care about being an Eagle Scout, um, then I don't know...
Friendly, courteous, and kind indeed! And I never had respect for quitters.
Deborah909: Mom and dad pushed, kicked, prodded, and shoved me into finishing. There's no interesting story behind it; just a lot of yelling in my house and a bit of crying here and there.
That is all.