Hunting for Salamanders or Fun Stuff I Learned at Scout Camp
by MelissaMarch 29th, 2005 10:43 pm
I’ve never had a significant beef with the Boy Scouts of America. It’s not that I agreed with their stance on gays, but I wanted to believe that the organization taught valuable life lessons to young men and boys. And I thought that it remained worthwhile despite some questionable decisions in recent years.
I attended both Brownies and Girl Scouts as a child, and I learned wonderful things, both at my meetings and at camp. Working toward earning the merit badges was fun. If I’d never been a girl scout, I probably never would have learned how to tie a slip knot (not that I remember it now - that’s not the point), I never would have experienced the supremely zen activity of whittling a piece of wood into a smooth shape with my trusty pocket knife, and I certainly never would have learned the words to all those terrific camp songs; John Jacob Jingle Heimer Schmidt, anyone? How about B-I-N-G-O or I Love the Mountains? The girl scouts taught me that raw hot dogs are not bad for you. In fact, they taste just like beef bologna; you know, the pink stuff? And they taught me that swinging from vines, just like Tarzan did, was a whole lot of fun.
I always imagined that the Boy Scouts learned similar stuff and if they had anywhere near as much fun as I had, there was no reason not to give the organization my stamp of approval.
But then I see news stories like this one and I am tremendously saddened. All the wackos in our society who want to prey on the innocent, start out by getting involved in organizations like the Boy Scouts. And we’re worried about the possible influence from gay scouts and scout leaders? How many children have to have their innocence stolen before we realize that straight is not synonymous with moral and gay does not mean perverted?
