From the daily Chattanoogan website, a letter to the editor:
The Boy Scouts Are Supposed To Teach Respect
posted August 9, 2010I just watched one of the most disturbing videos I have seen in a long time. A friend posted a video on “Facebook” of the Boy Scout’s of America, jeering, and booing, the President of the United States. I absolutely couldn’t believe what I was watching.
Like most guys my in my age group, which is older than dirt, I was a Boy Scout. I never rose much above the “Tenderfoot” level, but I really have fond memories of my experiences with the “Troop.” I was taught a lot of “life’s lessons” from some of the finest men in Chattanooga, one of those lessons was respect.
The President of the United States of America is the “Commander in Chief” of our military. He also serves as the President of the “Boy Scout’s of America.” That appointment is automatic upon his, or her, swearing into office. I was taught to respect the office of the President, whether you agreed with the “office holder” or not. Whether the President is Bush, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, or Obama, he deserves the respect that title carries.
I served as both a Boy Scout and Explorer Scout Counselor several years ago. I enjoyed the time I spent with the kids I was entrusted with, and I am proud of the adults they grew to become. At the time, we didn’t have to compete with the internet, cable television, and “Twitter”, to capture the boys attention. Those days will forever stand as another Norman Rockwell painting of better, more innocent days.
Now the BSA has attempted to become another breeding ground for the religious zealots, where homophobes abound. They have even been compared to the quasi-right wing military groups. Somewhere along the way, the purpose, and usefulness, of scouting has been diminished, or in some cases, erased completely. The kids are obviously not taught respect, nor civility.
I remember, “On my honor, I promise to do my duty to God, and to my Country.” That promise didn’t say anything about respecting only Republicans or Democrat’s. In fact, politics wasn’t even brought into the equation. A Scout is “trustworthy, loyal, friendly, courteous”, and that is the oath they take. Where is the courtesy in booing?
If we can’t even try to teach our youth civility, to disagree without being disagreeable, what hope do we have for our future? From what I saw today, things look pretty bleak.
Rod Dagnan
Chattanooga
From the Op-Ed News Network:
August 10, 2010 at 09:34:27 Permalink
Time to Add ‘Respect’ to the Scout Law
The Boy Scouts owe President Obama an apology for their disrespectful conduct at this year’s National Jamboree.
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I just read that 45,000 Boy Scouts booed the President of the United States for failing to address them in person at this year’s National Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Instead of addressing the Scouts, President Obama appeared on “The View” television show.
I was a Scout myself for 10 years and received the Eagle Rank in March 1962. Later I was an adult leader. When my own son was old enough, he joined the Scouts and I was a den leader, assistant scoutmaster, and District Committee member. I think I have a pretty good idea of what Scouting is and ought to be.
The Scouts’ shameful display of disrespect at the Jamboree is not it.
Here’s a memo to the Scouts: sometimes in this life – and may yours be long and happy – things don’t go your way. You don’t always get everything you want. Life has its disappointments and setbacks. As incredible as it may now seem, there are some people and things in this world that are actually more important, or at least more immediate, than you are.
When that happens, you can boo and complain. Or you can suck it up, man up, and move on. Which do you think good Scouts should do?
Understand this: the President of the United States is an elected official. In today’s partisan political climate, he has to gauge almost all of his actions partly in terms of their electoral impact. He can’t do the job at all if his team doesn’t get elected or re-elected. And the mid-term elections are only three months away.
You may not like it but that’s the way it is.
No offense to you, but the President will gain a lot more electoral advantage from appearing on “The View” than he would by addressing 45,000 people who are too young to vote anyway. That’s just a fact of political life. Sorry, but it’s true; that’s the way our system works. It’s not a perfect system.
I am not a religious man; in fact, for more than 50 years the Scout Law has been my religion. I believe that when I come to the end of all my days, I will have very little explaining to do if I can say to the Almighty that I lived my life according to the Scout Law: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent.”
But because I am not a religious man, I have substituted for “Reverent’ in my own personal credo another “R’ word: Respectful. A Scout is Respectful. A Scout is respectful of himself and others, whether he agrees with them or not.
Maybe it is now time to add Respectful to the Scout Law.
The shameful lack of respect these Scouts showed to the President at this year’s Jamboree reflects poorly on the organization, its proud legacy, and on the Scouts themselves. They have disgraced the uniform and its heritage.
The Scouts owe the President an apology.
Rick Wise is an industrial psychologist and retired management consultant. For 15 years, he was managing director of ValueNet International, Inc.
Before starting ValueNet, Rick was director, corporate training and, later, director, corporate strategy for Travelers Corp., an international insurance and financial services firm. He lost six friends in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Rick was a Vietnam-era Navy Hospital Corpsman.
Rick holds PhD and M.Ed. degrees from Penn State. His BS is from West Chester University. He completed post-doctoral work at Rensselaer, Northwestern, Colorado, and Harvard. A native of Pennsylvania, Rick now lives in New England.
Letter of the Day at the website of the Mineapolis Star-Tribune, for August 11 (added here late on that day):
Letter of the day: Eagle Scout: Booing Obama broke the Boy Scout Law
Last update: August 11, 2010 – 6:42 PM
As an Eagle Scout, I was appalled that some Boy Scouts reportedly booed President Obama when he appeared in a taped message at the recent National Scout Jamboree in Virginia. While I can understand their disappointment at not being addressed in person, the Boy Scouts involved in this incident broke about half of the tenets of Boy Scout Law: They were not loyal, friendly, courteous, kind or obedient in the least. Their leaders should help them understand what the Boy Scout Law means and how to follow it.
TOM KELSEY, SHOREWOOD
A different view from the National Guard’s video of Day 4 of the Jamboree:
BSA’s version (go check out the comments):
You don’t need to know Morse code to send the message along:
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 