OPPORTUNITY Knocks #86 "Prepare Yourself For High Adventure"

OK. I'm back. It's been a hectic summer. Lots of stuff going on. I'm trying to catch up but its been tough. Troop 26 tried a new summer camp this summer. Camp Pioneer in Mena Arkansas. Everybody had a great time. For a photo of the troop at Pioneer, go to the troop's website, www.troop26.org. It was an exciting week.

Recent Court of Honor. Two new Troop 26 Eagle Scouts. Eagle Scouts John Carmichael and Brandon Yerton. What a thrill for two outstanding families.New direction at the Scout Service Center.

After years and years of directing the Indian Nations Council, Kent Caraway retired and was replaced with the Chief Scout Executive from a council in Alaska, Bill Haines. I know you all join me in wishing Kent the very best as he heads into retirement and also join me in welcoming Mr. Haines to the best council in America. Or at lest we think it is.

I apologize for putting my weekly Opportunity Knocks on the back burner. There just didn't seem to be enough time during the day. I will really try to do better and get one out each Thursday.

Here goes.

Today is a special day.

Why?

Because a group of special Troop 26 Scouts are heading out of town for another appointment with adventure. It is the Troop 26 Explorer Post, now known as a Venture Crew, an they are headed for the tenth visit to the Northern Tier, formally called the Sommers Canoe Base.We wish them the very best of luck as they had for this new and amazing opportunity. Many, if not all, of the participants will be visiting the northern Tier for the first time and they are in for a life changing experience. I only went there one time and I can still remember the breathtaking and pristine scenery. The lapping water in the day and the lonely cry of the loon. Wonderful memories that will last a lifetime of working in a cubicle. I'm so glad I went even though I was concerned about carrying a boat on my head, and I'm glad some of my scouts are setting off to experience some of the things that I remember.

The fact is, these scouts leaving Tulsa today, represent a long line of Troop 26 scouts who have packed their packs and strapped up their boots for a wonderful and exciting trip to "high adventure" since that first Philmont Expedition back in 1974.

If my records are correct, there have been 446 Scouts experience a variety of high adventure opportunities since the first Post 26 put on their dark green shirts and their red hats with the brand new Post 26 emblem on them and left for Philmont. And the opportunities that have been made available are wonderful. There have been nineteen Philmont Expeditions, nine Northern Tier Expeditions, two trips to the Florida Sea Base, two trips to Glacier National Park, two trips to Gunnison National Park, two expeditions to Kanik at Philmont and two trips to Autumn Adventure at Philmont. Add to that eight National Jamborees (one in Idaho and seven in Virginia), and summer camping in Colorado (Ben DeLatour), Kansas (Quivira), Oklahoma (Garland, Hale and Will Rogers), Arkansas (Pioneer), New Mexico (Rand), Texas (Pirtle), and Alaska (Gorsuch). All in all, a wonderful camping program for all ages. A program filled with opportunities to experience and learn and build memories that will last a lifetime.

So, this Opportunity Knocks is an interactive one. All of you can participate. Please respond with your favorite memory from one of the summer camps you attended, one of the National Jamborees you attended, or one of the High Adventure Expeditions you went on. And you don't have to just send one. Share as much as you want. We will put all th entries in a book for our troop museum.

Opportunity Knocks #85 - IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT!

Isn't it funny what we remember? Memories become so embedded in our lives that sometimes we forget that they may or may not be true. Sometimes what we think is absolutely true, is not. Sometimes the stories we tell around the campfire, when based on incorrect information assumed to be facts, becomes true in the mind of the person who hears the story. Then it gets repeated, and repeated, and repeated. And it becomes part of legend and lore.

When I teach my Indian Lore merit badge class at summer camp, I always remind the scouts that they call it lore because it isn't exactly truth. It might be, but, then again, it might not be. The Native Americans were a verbal society. They passed their history down grandfather and father to son and grandson. Details change slightly with each retelling. Parts deemed unimportant are left out. Peoples personal part in the story was sometimes embellished. Things were added to the story to make it more interesting. Things were added that the story teller didn't actually see himself but that he heard about from someone else connected to the story. The final edition can't be history. Too much has changed over the years for it to actually be called history. Much of lore cannot be verified.

In our troop, we have a tradition that was started years ago by Senior Patrol Leader Don Zvacek. It is called the Zvastick. It is a story telling tradition taken directly from the Plains Indians. When they went to winter camp, much of their night time hours were spent inside the tent listening to stories. The cold wind blew and the snow fell outside the tent while inside the tent the young people were listening to the aged ones recite stories from their tribes heritage. This is the way the young people learned about the days gone by. The storyteller had a stick. While he held the stick, he had the floor. He was the speaker and the audience respectfully listened. When he was done, he passed the stick to another person and he became the speaker. It was a matter of courtesy.

In Troop 26, the Zvastick has become an important vehicle to keep our stories alive. Don Zvacek appeared on a winter campout in full Chief's regalia and began the tradition. The Zvastick was passed to me, as scoutmaster, and I told the first story. When I was done, I passed the stick to a young youth member that I had selected. At the campfire on the next campout, the young person told a story from the troop's past. When he was done, he passed the stick along to an adult leader. That tradition has gone on for years, story after story (the story selected had to be over five years old to be considered for retelling) adult to youth to adult to youth and so on.

Those stories have become part of our troop's history.

Imagine my surprise when I found that one of my very favorite stories wasn't true.

Many of you have heard the story about a campout at Zink Ranch back in the early 80's. Our SPL at the time was Eagle Scout Brett Dieterlin. As I was finished making my rounds on Saturday night, I returned to my tent to find a burned moose head sitting in my tent. It was on the floor by the door. I didn't have my flashlight on when I stepped into the tent and the cold nose of the thing hit my belly when I stepped in the tent. I reached for my flashlight and turned it one, seeing those blank marble eyes staring up at me. It definitely spooked me.

This much was fact. I was there.

What came next was not fact. This is what I thought. Some of our troop members were on a hike and came across a building that had burned down. Inside was a moose head that had been hanging on the wall inside the building. They decided to bring it back to camp and it ultimately found its way into my tent. Brett Dieterlin was not in that group. He was not in the group that found the head nor was he in the group that put it in my tent.

I suppose, as the story was told and retold, and since Brett was the Senior Patrol Leader at the time, his name became closely associated to the event. It should not have been. The story has also taken some twists and turns as well. The last time I heard it, the moose head was in my sleeping bag. It wasn't.

So, first, I want to apologize to Brett Dieterlin. He was an outstanding young man and a great SPL. In my dealings with Brett I have never known him to do a mean or malicious thing. He was a great friend to many, many scouts. I can still remember him standing next to Jeff Crawford, completely covered in mud from a mud slide they had helped build. I remember him at the Zink campout when a phone home was a big deal. He and his friends made a contraption that we could phone home on, with tin foil and sticks and stuff. I remember him with RC and Ross Yarroll and with Joel Stinnett. I remember him with Thad Bibb and Jeff Moore and Bobby Pendergrass. He was a terrific troop member and his name should not be connected with an event with which he had no part whatsoever. I want Troop 26 to remember Senior Patrol Leader and Eagle Scout Brett Dieterlin. I want them to remember him for the tremendous asset he was to Troop 26, not for something he had no part in.

Somewhere out there is a scout who drug an old, burned, moose head back to camp from a burned out building and decided to put it in my tent. Someday I might find out who it was. Whoever you are, you did something that has now become legendary in the lore of our troop. I thought it was funny. I still think it's funny.

See you next week for another edition of Opportunity Knocks.

Bill

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS #84 - Achieving Eagle

I'MMMMMMMMMMMM BACK!!!!

After several months absence, I'm back on track and getting ready for another year.This Opportunity Knocks is about making Eagle. Lots of scouts don't. I didn't. I wanted to but I didn't.This in no way takes away from the millions of kids who made it to Life, or Star, or to First Class rank as I did, because just being in Scouting is of great benefit to the boys who join. It just isn't possible for everyone to make Eagle. And that's OK. But for those scouts who do get that far, well.., coming from someone who wanted it but didn't make it, you guys who do make it have my admiration.

This last Monday night, I had the honor and privilege to address the Eagle Scout Class of 2007. It was a wonderful experience. I was a little intimidated to start with because the Eagle Banquet was being held at the Summit Club on the top of the Bank of America building. You could look out the windows and see the Tulsa skyline from Sand Springs to Bixby. The west side, the river, the buildings of downtown Tulsa including the new arena being built. And as the evening wore on, the beautiful lights and stars. Looking down was not good for me but looking out was wonderful.

Twelve Troop 26 Scouts earned their Eagle Award in 2007 and several were in attendance. One of them had prepared an analysis of the Eagle Projects done for the community in the Indian Nations Council. The report, entitled "The Economic Value of Eagle Scout Projects in the Tulsa Area" had some very telling statistics.

The report was done by Eagle Scout Charlie Spears, one of our outstanding 2007 Eagle Scouts. Charlie is heading off to some very lucky university this fall and this report was indicative of great things to come. I was amazed at the information provided by this report. In fact, as most scout leaders do, I look at Eagle Scout projects individually, one Eagle Scout at a time. I have never looked at the total body of work provided by Eagle Scouts and the impact it has on the community at large.

This study indicated that the direct economic benefit or 230 Eagle Projects to the Tulsa community was $180,000. The indirect benefit was $270,000. The total benefit of the Eagle projects done by 230 Eagle Scouts for 2007 was $450,000. That is amazing.To reach this number, Charlie considered average hours per project, average capitol cost per project, the labor rate based on minimum wage, and the average Eagle Project value. Not being an economics person, I was amazed at th progression of thought in this study. I'm not really sure I have described it adequately. But I was extremely impressed and amazed at the value the total body of projects had on the Indian Nations Council. I can only imagine what the numbers would be if all the Eagle projects in the nation were considered. It would really be something.

Congratulations, Charlie Spears, on a wonderful report and congratulations to all twelve our Eagle Scouts from last year.

On another note, the last issue of the Smoke Signals, the Indian Nations Council's communication newsletter, there was an interesting piece from the National Eagle Scout Association, NESA. NESA is trying to find and contact every living Eagle Scout and register his achievements, past and present. The effort will culminate in "Roll Call: The National Eagle Scout Registry". It is a publication that will capture the tradition, history, honor of our Nation's Eagle Scouts and will be available only to bona fide Eagles. The editor, NESA Director Bill Steele added that only Eagle Scouts who agree to be listed and are adults will be included.Be sure to watch for updates about the search. NESA has partnered with Harris Connect Inc, the nations membership publication experts, to help locate all Eagle Scouts and to produce "Roll Call". Information will be available on the NESA website at: http://www.nesa.org/misc/essearch.html. All you Troop 26 Eagle Scouts out there are encouraged to participate.

Until next week.. (yes, Mark Weigt.I promise to do one again next week!!!) ..good scouting!

See you all then,Bill

Opportunity Knocks #83 - I am Akela, mighty Chiek

"I AM AKELA, MIGHTY CHIEF"

It's time for Opportunity Knocks #83. Another year. More plans. More new members. More sons of former members returning to go down that familiar trail already blazed by their dads.

It seems appropriate that we begin this year with an Opportunity Knocks about our Arrow of Light Team. Last Thursday night, our current team did a ceremony for St. Mary's pack. As I was standing in the back of the church and heard the chief say "I am Akela, Mighty Chief..." I thought back over the years and saw in my mind the many, many Troop 26 members who have put on those Native American costumes and served up that ceremony for wide eyed cub scouts.

Hundreds of scouts making that Arrow of Light ceremony special. I remember one of the first ceremonies. It was outdoors. Greg Everage and Mark Weaver and Neil and Paul Smith and Bill Patterson were there. I remember one of the first indoor ones we did and Jeff Weaver was a young Webelos Scout receiving his Arrow of Light that night, along with Eric Hensley and Scott Hensley and Jack Dragoun.

Through the years, many Troop 26 members have played those roles and stood guard at the door where Scouting begins.

I watched the faces of the little Tiger cubs last Thursday. They were so quiet and so excited. Our scouts posed for photos after it was over and the little guys held the shields and the tomahawks and I could see it in their faces that scouting was coming alive right there in that very room.

Another year. More plans. More promise. More opportunities.

To all who had a part in 2007, thanks. To all those who have their sights set on an exciting 2008.get set. It begins.

See you next week.

THE "REAL" LAST OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS OF 2007

OK. I thought OK#81 would be the last one for 2007. It wasn't. This one is.

Actually, I have had these thoughts running around in my head for several days and thought it might be a good thing to send out one more Opportunity Knocks for 2007 since I missed a month or so in November and December.

I feel great about life in general. And I feel good about America. And I'm looking forward to 2008.

If you watch the news, any channel, national or local, there is a tendency to be discouraged. The news is typically bad. Sometimes bad enough to scare people into just staying at home and locking the doors. December of 2007 was no different. During a season of giving, the news was filled with stories about people who take. Taking advantage. Taking other people's hard earned belongings. Taking lives. Murder and mayhem.

It's easy to see how people could become confused at this apparent preponderance of bad news. You throw on top of that the horrible weather in Tulsa and the recent debilitating ice storm, well, it's easy to guess why spirits were low.

Then the news from Pakistan. The assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The subsequent looting and rioting and escalation of violence spreading throughout that country.
And it's not just Pakistan. Other countries are experiencing dictatorships, violence, war, suicide bombings, famine, starvation, death. People taking advantage of each other. Countries taking advantage of other countries. Bandits stealing the food sent to feed the world's poor and needy. The bad news just goes on and on.

And here at home, politicians taking each other to task, candidates calling each other names, talk show comedians making fun of all of them, the scandals in professional baseball and professional sports in general, movie stars being inappropriate for the cameras..on...and on..and on.
Bad news!!! It is easy to see why people are getting depressed.

OK. Enough is enough. Here comes 2008. A new year. I'm optimistic. Here is why.
I was watching one of my favorite shows on TV this last Wednesday. It's only on one time each year. It was the show about the Kennedy Center Honors. It was honoring five people for their contributions to the arts. Five wonderful people. Diverse. Clearly people who traveled different roads. Some of those roads were pretty difficult. But their travels culminated in being honored on national television with the President of the United States as a witness to their finest hour. Being honored for what they gave to others. For what they put into the life of a nation.
As I was watching each of the honorees, I was naturally thinking of our scouts over the years who also loved to perform.

While I watched the presentation for Diana Ross, I thought of all the Special Camporees where childlike voices were raised in gratitude to God, voices from special children that the average person would not see as "blessed" but who truly were. Beautiful voices that nobody will ever hear but, to me, were as beautiful as the wonderful voice of Diana Ross. While Miss Ross was being honored, my mind was miles away from the Kennedy Center listening to a beautiful human being sing "This World is Not My Home". She's gone now but I know that somewhere she is being honored by the angels.

I really enjoyed the presentation for Steve Martin. He was described as a "renaissance comic". I thought about all the campfires with people like the Paschals and the Halls and Michael Lasker. Around a campfire, they were wonderful performers. Some of them are in California now, adults, doing their thing. Over the years the skits came pouring back in my head. Many of the campfire performances were seen first on TV by comics like Steve Martin.

Martin Scorsese was honored by the Kennedy Center as a visionary film maker. I was thinking about Daniel Holloman and his Eagle project. It was a film about bicycle safety and the proper use of helmets. His actors were eggs. Eggs with helmets.and eggs without. You can only imagine the outcome of that safety film. Those poor eggs who forgot to put on their helmets will never get over it!! It was wonderful. So imaginative. Great director!!!

Brian Wilson, famous for his role in the Beach Boys music was honored as well. His songs were called "era defining music". It was happy music. It was about days at the beach, dating, growing up in America, sunlight, dreams. Fun songs. I thought about all those idiotic summer camp songs that made people laugh and feel good inside. You can ski at Tom Hale summer camp now. Maybe someday you'll be able to surf there too. California dreamin comes to Hale. I can see it now.

The last recipient was a man named Leon Fleisher. He was a concert pianist. I say "was" because at some point in his life he lost the use of his right hand. That's when he became a teacher. A beloved teacher. He found a new way to give. His tribute was wonderful, mostly because it was somebody I didn't know. I had never heard his name. But his music was wonderful. It made me think of Mark Osborn, one of our current Eagle Scouts. I attended a recital last month and listened to him play the piano. Boy, was I jealous. He was wonderful. So young and talented.

And then it hit me. The world is filled with people like these. People who shine a light into the darkness and make us glad to be human beings. People who make us smile and tap our feet and make us feel good. People who put their best foot forward to entertain and make our journey through life better for having heard their music or seen their movies or read their books or watched them perform. The Kennedy Center honored five of these people. Only five. Five each year. But the world is filled with people just like them. Their hands are out to give..not to take. And there are plenty of others to take their places. Not just in America but in the other countries of the world too. I'll bet there are people in Pakistan who sing and dance and make their world a better place.

The world can't be about murder and suicide bombings. We can't allow that. And just because the news, the magazines, the newspapers are filled with the worst in our world, that doesn't mean that its all there is. There is more..and it's wonderful. It's just not on the front page.
To close, I want to give you a challenge. Put the paper down. Go watch a child's baseball game. Go see a school play. Go watch the band from your local high school in the New Year's parade. Go to a concert. Go to the local university and listen to a presentation of chamber music. Go to a Sunday School pageant. Attend a talent show. Give glory to the God who brings out the best in us.

For me, I'm going to do that too. One of my best new scouts invited me to come to Holland Hall school in January to see him perform in a play. I'm going.
Get your heads out of the newspaper. Here comes 2008.
See you in the new year. It's been a pleasure.
Bill

Opportuntiy Knocks #81 - 2007 Year of Opportunity

This will be the last Opportunity Knocks for 2007. I just wanted to take this opportunity to send all of you out there in the extended Troop 26 family, a note of thanks for what you have provided for me personally. We all struggle through life with jobs and responsibilities and worries and concerns. All we want, really, is to matter to someone. Life is about making a difference. As a troop, we matter. We have participated in the life of our community. We have participated in the life of our sponsoring institution, the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. We have participated in the life of our great Indian Nations Council. We have participated in our District. We have continued to participate in Pine Tree and in the Order of the Arrow. Through the Eagle Projects done in 2007, we have reached out and touched many worthwhile causes and organizations in our city. Our troop matters. We are depended on and counted on.

Our year has been filled with ups and downs. Oklahoma's weather is always extreme but we did get a lot more camping in this year than we did during the year where the burn bans were such a hindrance to the camping program. We continued to have excellent troop officers and wonderful Senior Patrol Leaders. We presented twelve Eagle Scout Awards to twelve deserving young scouts.

We attended two summer camps. An outstanding trip to Medicine Mountain in South Dakota marked the highlight of the summer. The trip was planned by Assistant Scoutmaster Ed Hobbs. That was also one of our lowest moments as well, as Ed passed away before the trip. Ed was a wonderful and caring Assistant Scoutmaster. He was so excited about this trip. Bill Kelshaw stepped in and completed the planning but it wasn't going to be the same without Ed. Our Scouts performed the evening flag ceremony at Mount Rushmore during the Medicine Mountain trip. The color guard wore black armbands with Ed Hobb's name on them as a gentle rain fell on the quiet crowd. I personally think that this one event at Mount Rushmore, more than any other single event in 2007, identified the spirit present in Troop 26. Not only do we make a difference in our community, but more importantly than that, we matter to each other. We honor our past. We value those who participate in our present. And we are excited about our future. Because we know that what we are is directly related to all those wonderful people that have worn the numbers "26" on their arm in the past. Men like Jim Goller, my own Scoutmaster when I was in Troop 26 as a boy, and Zeke Dampf, my Scoutmaster in Troop 26 when I left Tulsa for Military School, and Bud Kunze, the Scoutmaster of Troop 26 before me, and all the wonderful Assistant Scoutmasters who have come and gone. Men like Leon Smith, Ed Herhold, Bill Dalton, Bert Shelby, Bob Barbero, Joe McCann, and Jerry Pepper, who, along with Bud Kunze, were my very first Assistant Scoutmasters back in 1969. And to all the Assistant Scoutmasters since then. Men like Ed Hobbs. There have been so many wonderful men and women over the years who participated in the life of our troop. They came and they mattered. They participated in a program that changed lives. We are all grateful for the opportunity to know them and learn from them.

Last Monday night we held our annual Christmas Party with our Special Scout friends from Woodland Park. It is abundantly clear that Troop 26 has mattered to them. Over the years we have added something in their lives that would not have been there otherwise. We have become the family that many of them do not have. Our Special Scout friends want to matter too. And they know they matter to us. The gifts were OK and Santa was OK and the cookies were OK, but the hugs were better. And they are looking forward to 2008 because they know that Troop 26 will be there with them. Our involvement with the Special scouts over the years has added to the quality our own lives. The Special Camporee continues to be a major event in the life of our troop.

Every trip to the mailbox is exciting for me at this time of year. Troop 26 alumni Christmas Cards are coming in. For all those who sent cards, thank you. Those cards from people I haven't seen in years, let me know that I matter too. We have built something wonderful here. Something that lasts. I so appreciate you allowing me to be a part of your lives. And each of you have been a blessing in mine.

I know that all over the country, Troop 26 alumni are getting ready for Christmas. Maybe they will stop during this hectic time of year and think back on a simpler time. Maybe they will remember something from their childhood. The battery run Christmas tree lights at the Explorer Base. The big rocks at Kunze's Farm. The swinging bridge at Camp McClintock. The cold water of Spring Creek at Camp Garland. The smiles of our special friends at the Special Camporee. The sounds of thousands of scouts at National Jamborees. The lonely sounds of a loon coming across the lakes in the Northern Tier. The lightening on Tooth Ridge at Philmont. So many memories.

A great past. A wonderful 2007. An exciting future ahead.

See you next year.

Opportuntiy Knocks - 2007 Year of Opportunity

This will be the last Opportunity Knocks for 2007. I just wanted to take this opportunity to send all of you out there in the extended Troop 26 family, a note of thanks for what you have provided for me personally. We all struggle through life with jobs and responsibilities and worries and concerns. All we want, really, is to matter to someone. Life is about making a difference. As a troop, we matter. We have participated in the life of our community. We have participated in the life of our sponsoring institution, the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. We have participated in the life of our great Indian Nations Council. We have participated in our District. We have continued to participate in Pine Tree and in the Order of the Arrow. Through the Eagle Projects done in 2007, we have reached out and touched many worthwhile causes and organizations in our city. Our troop matters. We are depended on and counted on.

Our year has been filled with ups and downs. Oklahoma's weather is always extreme but we did get a lot more camping in this year than we did during the year where the burn bans were such a hindrance to the camping program. We continued to have excellent troop officers and wonderful Senior Patrol Leaders. We presented twelve Eagle Scout Awards to twelve deserving young scouts.

We attended two summer camps. An outstanding trip to Medicine Mountain in South Dakota marked the highlight of the summer. The trip was planned by Assistant Scoutmaster Ed Hobbs. That was also one of our lowest moments as well, as Ed passed away before the trip. Ed was a wonderful and caring Assistant Scoutmaster. He was so excited about this trip. Bill Kelshaw stepped in and completed the planning but it wasn't going to be the same without Ed. Our Scouts performed the evening flag ceremony at Mount Rushmore during the Medicine Mountain trip. The color guard wore black armbands with Ed Hobb's name on them as a gentle rain fell on the quiet crowd. I personally think that this one event at Mount Rushmore, more than any other single event in 2007, identified the spirit present in Troop 26. Not only do we make a difference in our community, but more importantly than that, we matter to each other. We honor our past. We value those who participate in our present. And we are excited about our future. Because we know that what we are is directly related to all those wonderful people that have worn the numbers "26" on their arm in the past. Men like Jim Goller, my own Scoutmaster when I was in Troop 26 as a boy, and Zeke Dampf, my Scoutmaster in Troop 26 when I left Tulsa for Military School, and Bud Kunze, the Scoutmaster of Troop 26 before me, and all the wonderful Assistant Scoutmasters who have come and gone. Men like Leon Smith, Ed Herhold, Bill Dalton, Bert Shelby, Bob Barbero, Joe McCann, and Jerry Pepper, who, along with Bud Kunze, were my very first Assistant Scoutmasters back in 1969. And to all the Assistant Scoutmasters since then. Men like Ed Hobbs. There have been so many wonderful men and women over the years who participated in the life of our troop. They came and they mattered. They participated in a program that changed lives. We are all grateful for the opportunity to know them and learn from them.

Last Monday night we held our annual Christmas Party with our Special Scout friends from Woodland Park. It is abundantly clear that Troop 26 has mattered to them. Over the years we have added something in their lives that would not have been there otherwise. We have become the family that many of them do not have. Our Special Scout friends want to matter too. And they know they matter to us. The gifts were OK and Santa was OK and the cookies were OK, but the hugs were better. And they are looking forward to 2008 because they know that Troop 26 will be there with them. Our involvement with the Special scouts over the years has added to the quality our own lives. The Special Camporee continues to be a major event in the life of our troop.

Every trip to the mailbox is exciting for me at this time of year. Troop 26 alumni Christmas Cards are coming in. For all those who sent cards, thank you. Those cards from people I haven't seen in years, let me know that I matter too. We have built something wonderful here. Something that lasts. I so appreciate you allowing me to be a part of your lives. And each of you have been a blessing in mine.

I know that all over the country, Troop 26 alumni are getting ready for Christmas. Maybe they will stop during this hectic time of year and think back on a simpler time. Maybe they will remember something from their childhood. The battery run Christmas tree lights at the Explorer Base. The big rocks at Kunze's Farm. The swinging bridge at Camp McClintock. The cold water of Spring Creek at Camp Garland. The smiles of our special friends at the Special Camporee. The sounds of thousands of scouts at National Jamborees. The lonely sounds of a loon coming across the lakes in the Northern Tier. The lightening on Tooth Ridge at Philmont. So many memories.

A great past. A wonderful 2007. An exciting future ahead.

See you next year.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS # 80 - Opportunity

It's been awhile. Things just kept coming up. I so apologize to all those who wait religiously each week for the Opportunity Knocks to come out. And for those who worry that I have died or become incapacitated, that hasn't happened yet. I'm getting up there but I have some time left.

Today's Opportunity Knocks is about exactly that. Opportunity.

Troop 26 provides a huge opportunity. The opportunity to earn the Eagle Scout Award. Not all scouts are given this opportunity. Many scouts want it but can't find it. I can't get over the number of men I have met at Philmont and Sommers and National Jamborees who told me they only got as far as First Class, Star or Life, offering the excuse that "we didn't have enough men", or "our adults didn't teach classes", or "we didn't have enough adults to go to summer camp". Everybody who didn't make it had a ready made excuse. It was about somebody else not doing what they were supposed to be doing. "I didn't get it because my Scoutmaster quit and they couldn't get anybody to take his place". (Why didn't you join another troop?) "I just needed one badge and nobody in my troop taught it." (Why didn't you go to your Council office and find a counselor?) "I just waited too long and other things started getting in the way." (Why did you allow things to get in the way?)

There a million excuses. I've used most of them. I quit Scouting as a ninth grader with two merit badges, and First class. Looking back, I am devastated by my lack of resolve. I could have done it. I chose not to. I chose to blame it on a lack of counselors. I chose to blame it on a change in Scoutmasters. I chose to blame it on friends at school who had little respect for scouts. I chose to blame it on friends, girls, jobs, grades. But I made that choice. I chose not to succeed.

The Eagle Scout Award isn't easy to get. That's why so few young men actually get it. They are an exceptional group of young men. And at the time they get it they have no idea how special it is. That comes later.

We just had a Court of Honor. Several of the recipients of the Eagle Scout Award were over eighteen. They just barely got their final badges, their projects, their paperwork, and their letters of reference in before the deadline. They did it at the last minute for a variety of reasons, I suppose, but as I watched the ceremony, one thing became crystal clear. The opportunity was here! The counselors were here. The camping program was here. The trained Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters were here. And they still almost missed it.

Why?

I think that your childhood and especially your teenage years are about making determinations about what you want to do in life. It's about setting goals. But it is very possible, in fact probable, that some of the goals you set will be upstaged by newer goals as you get older. Some of the goals you set for yourself will be put on the back burner by goals that are set for you by someone else. I think that teenagers are trying to grow up and act older. That's why many of them decide to sever their relationship with Scouting because they see it as "little kid stuff". They are sixteen and seventeen years old and there are ten year olds at their scout meetings with the same uniform on. How do you explain that to a school friend or a girlfriend who doesn't know what scouting is all about. It's hard to explain. So it becomes easier to just quit.

As a Scoutmaster, what can I do to counter this trend? Well, I'm convinced that I can't. I really can't. By the time the boy is seventeen years old, there is nothing I can do. If I wait that long to do it!!! I need to start when they are ten years old. I need to tell them up front how they are going to feel in several years. I want to be honest about the things that might get in the way of finishing what you start. Grades, sports, cars, jobs, honor classes, girls. We know those things are coming. So I want the scout to know that those things are coming too. I want to push the concept of "a scout is brave". Stand up for what you want. Don't let other people tell you what you can belong to and what you can't. I want to use every minute of age ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen, to help them build confidence in themselves and build in them a love for scouting. I can do that by offering a wide range of activities that challenge them to be better, smarter, active, and more competent. I can build goals within scouting that are achievable and things they can look forward to. From a simple first time campout in the summer sun at age ten, to a night spent at the base of Baldy at Philmont at age seventeen, through the rain and the boring classes and the peer pressure at school, all the way to that night when they turn their final paperwork for Eagle Scout in. I want to offer them a variety of adult leaders who represent a variety of ages and hobbies and skills and professions. I want them to make lasting friendships through shared experiences. I want them to learn from the examples set for them by older scouts, and, in turn, set those examples for those who follow.

I think we do that in our troop. I think we have done a pretty good job of that.

And yet, at the last Court of Honor, there were several scouts who just about missed the opportunity. They succeeded, but they came so close to failing. It was scary how close they came to giving up. A failure that would haunt them for years to come. And they didn't know how much it mattered.

I hate losing Life Scouts. I hate it. I hate it more than I hate the Pittsburg Steelers. Life Scouts come so close. They are so close they can actually see it. I hate it when they just fade away after spending a good portion of their childhood with us in scouting.

I am tempted to feel bad and accept part of their failure as my failure. Wasn't there something I should have done? Wasn't there something I could have done? Should I have sent a card when I noticed that they were missing too many meetings? Should I have called on the phone? Would that have made a difference?

And then I received a new perspective that I would like to share with you as part of this Opportunity Knocks #80. And I got this perspective listening to a NFL head coach as he was being interviewed after a bitter loss to an archrival. He was asked why his team lost. He was asked if he could have done something different. He was asked if he shouldn't have spent more time in practice on one skill or another.

The coach looked the reporter in the eye and said.."Look! I'm just the coach. I do everything I can to put my players in a position to win. But the coaches don't go out there on the field. When the whistle blows, the players have to go out there and play. They have to decide when to give up. They have to decide if they are going to give it their all during the allotted time. They have to decide about how much effort they are going to give. Coaches coach. Players play. Every game is an opportunity to get better. We'll look at the film this week. This coming week, we'll practice. Next Sunday, we'll put our players in a position to be successful. Maybe they will. That's why we coach."

That just about says it all. Scouting is about preparing for life. All the points of the Scout Law and all the parts of the Scout Oath are personal traits that our kids will need as they play the game of life. We have to hope that as Scout leaders, Sunday school teachers, school teachers, coaches, and counselors, we have given them enough skills to play the game successfully.

To continue the football analogy, you've all seen games on a college and professional level where when the fourth quarter starts, all the players raise their arms with four fingers in the air. It signifies that the game is almost over. They only have a quarter let to get it done.

Right now in Troop 26, we have over fifty Life Scouts. Being a sixteen or seventeen year old Life Scout is like being in the fourth quarter. Some of our scouts are approaching that critical age. Some are already sixteen. Some are seventeen and some are turning eighteen in 2008. There is still time but it is running out, especially considering the things that are being added to each scouts plate. And it isn't going to get any easier. It's going to get progressively harder. I hope that some Life Scout or some parent will read this and feel a new sense of urgency and resolve.

I am reminded about one of my Assistant Scoutmasters. Jeff Weaver. He is concerned about two such older scouts that are good friends of his Eagle Scout son. They joined at about the same time. Jeff's son recently earned his Eagle Scout award and Jeff feels a sense of loyalty to his son's friends. He calls them every couple of weeks or so, just to check in and offer his support. All of our Assistant Scoutmasters are like that with different kids. Jeff is so dedicated to helping these two boys finish. I hope they finish as well. But Jeff and I are looking at these two boys from two completely different perspectives. Jeff made his Eagle. I didn't. Jeff represents success while I represent failure. Jeff wants these two boys to experience that sense of pride and success that he felt. I want to help these two boys avoid that feeling of failure that I continue to feel to this day. We both would do anything for them. But it all comes down to the two scouts. And don't misunderstand me. They are both wonderful kids and terrific troop members and they are going to make wonderful men and great dads someday. It just comes down to how badly they want to succeed. Encouragement only goes so far. Now it's about their individual will to get it done. And they haven't a clue how disappointed Jeff and I will be if that door closes at age eighteen and the opportunity for success is gone.

I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all those boys who persevered and stood in honor while their dad smiled and their mom pinned the Eagle Scout Award on their uniform shirt. Congratulations on a job well done. All you Eagle Scouts out there. Do you feel it? Do you feel the success? Do you feel the sense of accomplishment? You should. It's not easy to earn. And you did it.

See you all next week.

Bill Shaffer
ScoutmasterTroop 26