Opportunity Knocks #45 - Looking back.

We had our Oklahoma Special Camporee last weekend. It was held at Camp Akdar on Keystone Lake. It had all the regular stuff, boat rides, canoes, activities, everything was about the same. But something was definitely different. We spent a lot of time thinking about Gary Stevens, one of our special scouts who passed away earlier this month, and we thought about Stella and the song she used to sing at Special Camporees before she left to join the angels. We remembered the faces that are no longer with us.


We have watched the Troop 26 scouts come and go. That is somewhat expected. Life goes on. Priorities change. But the special scouts have stayed. They have stayed through generations of their Troop 26 counterparts. I wonder sometimes if our scouts realize what an integral part they have played in the lives of these special scouts. Integral! For us it's an activity. For them..it's life. And when we say the special scouts come "and go", the going is different. They stay with us as long as they possibly can. They love our Camporee, they love Troop 26, and they love all its members, past and present. They look forward each year to their unification with us at the Camporee or at the Christmas Party in December. The greatest gift isn't the presents, its getting to see their friends. Many of them will be with us till the "angels beckon them from Heaven's Open Door"*. Oh how I love that song and I can still hear Stella singing it.


So, as a final parting thought about Gary and Stella and many, many others...I'd like to say to all the Troop 26 scouts and adults that have participated in the Special Program over the years, from its inception in 1970 right up to the chapel service in the rain last Sunday, ..."Thank you." You helped make the world for each special scout a little better. You walked beside them and you showed them unconditional acceptance. That is more important than anything you will ever pin on your shirt or hang on your wall. The Special Camporee, more than any other activity, makes Troop 26 what it is. Because it helped us learn to give. Not because we get a prize or award or certificate or medal. The only reward is the memory of the smile we put on someone's face. And there have been so many, many smiles.


I watched a new generation of scouts who were attending their very first Special Camporee. This program just keeps on giving.


So when people say "What did you get out of that?" Easy answer. A smile, a hug, and a place in the heart of a special scout. That's what we get. A place in someone's heart. Money or fame can't buy your way into those special hearts. You only get there by giving of yourself. I think its one of the most important things a Troop 26 member carries with him as he sets out to find his own destiny. Reaching out. Sharing. Helping. Doing your part to make the world a better place for someone else. By enriching someone else's life, we have enriched our own.


You should be proud of yourself, Troop 26. Very, very proud.

Who's reading the blog?

Scroll down to find this weeks post: Special Friends/Special Scouts. Be sure to read the companion piece, The Special Camporee & The Hissom Award.

So, who's reading these OK blogs? Everyone who leaves a comment this week, or next, on any of the previous OK's, OR who leaves a comment to this post telling Bill how much you enjoy his OK thoughts, will be entered into a drawing for a QT Wally Card. Check back Monday the 18th to see who won!

Opportunity Knocks# 44 - Special Friends - Special Scouts

This will be a short one. OK maybe not. Some sad news. We learned yesterday that one of our "special" friends, Gary, passed away. We were saddened by this news because Gary had become a real part of our Project 2000 program on Tuesday nights, as well as participating in our Special Camporees each year. Gary loved scouts. He loved his uniform. He did have some problems, mostly with anger, but it was obvious that scouting helped him with those problems. Tony and Terri Duncan, James and Luz Smith, and Diane Curtis, all with Troop 26, did some amazing and compassionate work with Gary and they had watched as his excitement grew with each new patch or pin he received for his uniform. Those families are feeling the pain today as they struggle with the loss of this special scout. Our prayers are with them as well as with his family.

It is probably a good time to offer this opinion about our Special programming. From the beginning of our association, first with Hissom Center before it closed, and currently with assisted living homes and treatment facilities in the Oklahoma area, we have felt that our growth as a troop was directly related to our service to these special units and the special scouts in them. Our association with the special scouts truly taught our Troop 26 members something about life that handbooks and merit badge pamphlets could never teach. It taught our scouts about service. Pure service. Not the kind of service that gets you credit for service hours or gets you a patch or a rank advancement. I'm talking pure service.

Pure service is the kind that makes the world a better place. Service done when nobody is looking. The kind of service whose only award is in your heart and in heaven. Service that nobody will write about in the newspapers. Our Troop 26 scouts have been providing that level of service for years and it is a fact that these special scouts have received more than just a weekend outing. They have received acceptance. They have received friendships. They have received the joy of being with people that wanted to be with them. They have received love.

Gary loved the scout meetings on Tuesday night. He loved the Christmas party. He loved the Duncans and the Smiths and Diane Curtis. He loved his Troop 26 friends. Sometimes he had a hard time expressing that love but it was there just the same. We know it was. And we became better human beings after being given the chance to work with him. We gained an empathy and an appreciation for the things Gary was working on and the difficulties he was having. Gary could be incredibly difficult at times but he couldn't push the Duncans or the Smiths or Diane away. They stayed right there and continued to care and provide him with the program that he love so much.

Opportunity Knocks #43 is really a thank-you note. It is written to all those scouts and leaders over the years who have invested their time and their hearts in the Special Scout program. To Tony and Terry and James and Luz and Diane and all the leaders who went before, I'm thinking of Lloyd Linde and Dick Shelton and Bob Barbero and Bert Shelby and Ed Herhold and Bill Dalton and Jerry Lybarger and Rick Hayes and hundreds and hundreds of Scouts too. They built that program from the ground up. Building a world class program where no previous program existed.

I'm thinking back on that very first Special Camporee. All the special kids that attended had a blanket. That's it. No sleeping bags, no winter clothes, no uniforms, and not many of them had cots or pillows. Special Olympics was in its infancy and Scouting for special needs children was unheard of. And I'm thinking back on that very first Eagle Project done at Hissom, by Mark Herhold back in the 70s. I remember the very first group of Hissom Special scouts learning the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Mark and Whit Fields and Tommy Dittis and Billy Barbero watching and wondering if they had stepped in over their heads. And so it began. A troop that was growing and a service project that was growing along with it.

The contact with our special friends made us better scouts and better people. Instead of just putting up the Scout sign on Monday night and saying "A Scout is Friendly" and "A Scout is Kind", we actually got to practice those laws and see the wonderful results that kindness produces. From the beginning, Troop 26 has been based on "getting ready for life" rather than a quest for badges. And our Special Camporee Program has had a lot to do with establishing that as a primary direction for our program. Getting ready for life.

The Special Scouts have come and gone. The ones that remain are friends that we have seen grow older right in front of our eyes. Their hearts and minds have remained young as their bodies have become more experienced. They still love to laugh and play and sing and pray. They go a little slower now. Their hair is grey but their smiles and their laughter are the same. They love to "shoot the arrow" and "ride the boat" and "shoot the guns". Generations of special scouts have squealed "I got a bulls eyeeeeeeeee". Remembering the girls with the sunburns after the boat rides. Indoor people experiencing the outdoors. They didn't even mind the sunburns. And oh how they loved the patches. Remember the green uniforms they made for the girls that had all their patches sewn on the back. Many remember Jerry's backrubs or Gail singing the National Anthem or America the beautiful or Patsy's prayers. And boy could they eat. They loved the great food and the cooks who prepared it. I remember them shaking hands with Bill Dalton as they came through the line just like they do with today's cooks. And then there's our special girl singing "This World is not my home". The memories are many. How they loved music and how they loved to sing. And what a special and loving relationship they had with their God. Every scout and every adult that participated in the special Camporee or more recently with the Project 2000 program, those memories are special treasures. Gary is a special treasure. He'll be alive in our hearts for a long time.

All you alumni out there, and current scouts and leaders too, send me your favorite Special Camporee memories. I'd love to share them with our current Scouts.

Our next troop campout....The Oklahoma Special Camporee. September 15, 16, and 17 at Camp Akdar.

And remember our promise to our special friends.



"Don't walk in front of me...I may not be able to follow.

Don't walk behind me.....I may not be able to lead.

Just walk beside me....and be my friend."

Opportunity Knocks #43 -An appreciation of Risk

Opportunity Knocks #43

Sorry. A day late. I try to do these on Thursday so that all you readers out there can get accustomed to getting the Opportunity Knocks consistently. But every now and then...Thursdays are hectic. For those of you who have not experienced a psychiatric hospital...trust me....Yesterday was "hectic". So today will have to do.

The last OK was about the float trip. It was written before we had it. This OK is about the float trip as well. But written from a different perspective. "After" we had it.

I always seem to dwell on the safety issues that are inherent in a float trip. Those issues seem unimportant when the float is over and won't be a concern anymore till next year's float rolls around. Then I'll be thinking about safety again.

But right now as I am writing OK #43, safety isn't an issue because everyone floated, everybody ate, everybody had a great time and no mishaps were recorded for this years event. The river was "up" and several people fell out of their canoes with the assistance of the river itself, but everything worked out for the best.

I was asked today by a co-worker a very valid question. He was a scout leader in the past and he was "amused" at my concerns about the float trip. He said that in his troop it was easy to fix. He said, and I quote, "If you are so concerned about the safety issues, why don't you do what we did and you'll never have to worry about it again." I asked him how they dealt with it, thinking that I was about to receive some great Solomon-like piece of wisdom. "It's easy", he replied, "You just never take a float trip."

I guess on some level, he might be right. You can eliminate risk by eliminating activities that provide risk. But is that something we want to do? Do we eliminate hiking, Philmont, rappelling, swimming, camping when it's too hot, or too windy, or too cold, or too rainy? Do we eliminate all the merit badges that have some element of physical activity included in them. How about fishing?

I remember a summer camp during a jamboree year when there were only three adult leaders in camp. Everybody else was signed up for the jamboree trip. But three can handle it. Right? Me, Dick Shelton, and Bill Barbero. We can do it. Right?

Wrong! Bill Barbero was fishing and during one amazing cast, he hooked himself in the back of the head with a fish hook and that left me and Dick.

Risk. Everything we do has some element of risk. What do we teach our kids about planning and about safety when we protect them from harm by eliminating the things that are supposed to teach them things? That makes absolutely no sense unless you are unconcerned about the type of men these scouts turn out to be later.

I always worry about the float trip. But I will never cancel it. Instead, I have had a series of great men who focused on eliminating risk. TC Nulf was the Cadillac of float planners. He looked at every detail. As a result, the older kids focused on safety just like he did. And when the older kids look at safety, the little scouts will too. When TC laid down the paddle, Ted Giovi picked it up. He continues to plan. He has already thought about next year by looking at the things that were a concern this year.

In 2006, we had a safe, enjoyable and memorable float. A float that addressed safety and risk, and provided character building. We learned. We respected the river. We understood the challenge and we planned and prepared to meet the challenge. It's over. I'm glad. I always worry. We'll do it again next year. I'll worry again.

But you know what? I worried when our crew left for Philmont this summer. And I worried when a different crew left for the Northern Tier. I worry every time we get on a bus headed for a National Jamboree. And it's true that some things just happen despite your best efforts to prevent them from happening. But you reduce the chances of that by having assistant scoutmasters who focus on detail. And a major "detail" in planning any activity, is risk reduction. The men who took the kids to Philmont were wonderful. The men who took the kids to northern Tier were wonderful. All the kids had mountain top experiences.

I want to spend my remaining time on OK#43 by thanking every adult leader who has ever participated in a Troop 26 activity and thought about safety. We have an amazing record of safety. We've had some injuries along the way, some pretty serious, but those have been the exception rather than the rule. And they could not have been predicted. But they might have been prevented. And we have looked at every situation in our past and learned from it so as to better prepare for the future, not by eliminating activities, but by controlling activities and looking at them in terms of planning for safety.

To all the men who have provided that level of support for all the thousands of kids that we have shepherded through hundreds and hundreds of activities over the years, THANKS!!! Your efforts have been appreciated.

And if you get a chance, come float with us next year. We'd love to have you. But just one thing...

You have to wear a life preserver. Must!!! No exceptions.

See you next Thursday.

Bill......"Gooooooooooooooooooooo Dallassssssssssss!!!!!!!!