I'm an Eagle Scout. Yes, let's try coed scouting.
Editor's note: Don Grossnickle of Arlington Heights is an Eagle Scout, an alumni of Boy Scout Troop 718 in Chicago, a former biology teacher at Palatine High School and a deacon of Our Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church in Arlington Heights. His current mission is fighting malaria in Uganda.
It was one of the very first lifelong lessons of scouting that taught me that to survive under difficult conditions, it pays to be adaptable and always remain in some kind of readiness — to “be prepared.”
Now, in these turbulent times, powers-that-be have seen the wisdom to change the name of Boy Scouting.
As when pitching a tent in the midst of rain and wind storms, my way to deal with the current situation is to:
• Take the change in stride
• Make the best of it, and
• Teach yourself a good lesson or two in the process.
I spent my formative years as a Boy Scout and am a proud Eagle Scout. I am also the proud father of an Eagle Scout.
My life was very much formed around scouting activities. My mom was a volunteer den mother and my dad a volunteer cubmaster. Together, we did so many activities and worked at earning awards of silver and gold arrows. Scouting taught me many lessons about working at goals and that achievement happens by dedicating time and effort and at the end there is achievement and accomplishment to show for it. I made progress through the ranks as a wolf, bear and lion until my den meeting days were over and I was old enough to go camping out in the wilderness and test my skills against the forces of nature.
Campouts were the ultimate expression of happiness and fulfillment for a youngster. Scouting took place under the supervision of wise and caring leaders where limitless challenges were to be faced. Clearly, the ancient stories of young American Indians tested by the tribal elders for rites of passage from boy to manhood stood as a backdrop for preparing me to face life as an adult. For me, scouting was a transitional time of “leaving home” and striving to prove myself.
Leaving Mommy and Daddy to attend meetings, campouts and summer camp helped me grow up and accept the leadership of other adults beside teachers and parents and relatives. My scoutmasters took their job seriously, having been scouts themselves in their youth, and were convinced that the master-apprentice model of showing and telling and practicing would lead to the kind of mastery that when push came to shove, skills could be ready and available.
If I were a scout leader today with a mixed troop of young boys and girls, I am not certain how things might work out. I am fairly certain that the historically proven principles of scouting are valuable and important for both sexes alike. Since there is change in the air, I say, give it a try.
Allow me some nostalgia that highlights the benefits of scouting — for both boys and girls — as it influenced my character and helped prepare me for life.
1. Scouting allowed me to experience other adolescents dealing with growing up in the midst of: laughter, as well as serious times of learning, practicing challenging skills like knot tying, cooking, building bridges, lifesaving, first aid and surviving in the outdoors when the weather was difficult. Different from classroom situations, scouting is based on the teamwork of a patrol group, all for one and one for all.
2. Even though I loved my parents and siblings, the time away helped me appreciate home and what was done to manage the household for me as I learned to independently care for my own tent, campsite and such. Teamwork in both places is necessary, and soon one performs a required task out of responsibility, not as only as a way to escape punishment.
3. Since I was not an athlete in any way, scouting allowed me to put my whole self into expressing my interests and gifts, particularly those related to nature and the outdoors rather than sports. Beyond question, my becoming a biology teacher is linked to my formative scouting experiences.
4. Scouting offers time for solitude; time for reflection, hikes, canoeing, fishing, bird-watching. It allows the opportunity to get away from electronics, homework, books and to change the outlook. From the time it takes to plan a menu for a campout, shop for it, cook it, clean the pots and pans and enjoy both good and bad preparations, self-reliance and independence grow with practice, trial and error.
5. Several of my scouting buddies were killed in Vietnam. My friendships with them endure. I recollect the good times with them as we spent years growing together and preparing for life. I am very pleased to have invested time in the friendships as they helped me become a man of character and their lives mean something special to me.
6. Twenty-one merit badges on the way to earn the rank of Eagle Scout taught me so much. I can still recall the people who served as merit badge counselors, who tested me and signed the card qualifying me to wear the badge of distinction proving the knowledge and skill. I progressed from tenderfoot to star, life and Eagle rank, and did not give up. When others thought being involved in scouts in early our teens was “sissy,” the striving to reach Eagle was strong for me, and I stood tall until I succeeded.
7. My mom and dad pinning my Eagle Scout award on my uniform was as special as a Medal of Honor. That Eagle award led to striving for many other awards in life, including serving in the Army. For six years I served in the army of this country, very proud and very confident that when I would face battle, scouting had made me prepared.
8. Scouting taught me to do a good deed daily as a way of life. I became a teacher, father, neighbor, friend, minister, ordained deacon. I have built on a lifestyle habit of daily caring for others as much as self. Scouting principles and values are real and I can still recite them from memory and strive to live up to being trustworthy loyal, etc.
9. Saving lives in water and from fires and a fall from a cliff tested my lifesaving ability. Four people are directly alive today who likely would have perished had I not taken appropriate action.
10. Scouting is a part of me now. I can imagine tents full of both boys and girls on campouts and meetings. I can imagine a canoe with both boys and girls in it or a hiking trail with both boys and girls. I can imagine female role model scoutmasters. I can imagine girls becoming as good friends as my guy friends became over time.
My scoutmaster, Ronald D. Sundstrom, is still alive today. I am near 70 years old and he is older. I can imagine Ron and me and my former buddies sitting around a campfire or laying on a hill looking up at the stars together. I can imagine young women and men growing up together focused more on the merits of what scouting can do for the soul and not worrying about matters of sexuality.
It is easy for me to be open-minded about such matters regarding the changing of the name of Boy Scouting. The scouting program and all it can give is important to me. Yet, as a grandfather and proud father, I desire mostly for young people growing up today and tomorrow to have opportunities such as those described above and trust the future to those who can make that happen.