Scout Master's Corner - May 17, 2007

I was reminded of astronauts.

I have been trying to think of suggestions for high adventure trips for this summer's annual planning meetings. But I had run dry. Nothing was hitting me as a high adventure trip worthy of our current crop of boys. I turned to our historian and requested the latest photographs of our trips since the purchase our digital camera. A particular image struck me. It was the astronauts on a foreign land. There were two very strange beings laughing at the camera. They had giant bulbous packs with thick gloves, puffy legs, and rounded boots. The landscape was cloudy white with low visibility.

I am a worrier and a thinker. That is my job as scoutmaster, to worry and think about things. I constantly think about our troop and our boys. What type of legacy will our adult leadership depart onto our boys? When they become men and have children of their own, how will they look back on this time of their lives? Will the high adventure trips be worth the while? Will the grown men have the values and leadership taught to them as boys scouts? Our program must live up to those challenges yet remain accessible to the boys so I worry and think. I needed inspiration and I got it through the "astronauts" and the images that followed. I had a feeling things would go well next year and our 2008 high adventure trip would live up to its legacy.

Are you inspired? The Senior Patrol Leader and his Patrol Leaders Council have set dates for next years planning. If you would like to share your thoughts, please check our troop calendar and join us. Maybe you will look like the smiling gang below!

See you on the trail,

David Dierken, Scoutmaster
BSA Troop 315
Scoutmaster@Troop315.org