Opportunity Knocks #76 "YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, ONE WAY OR THE OTHER"

We just returned from Medicine Mountain Scout Camp in South Dakota several weeks ago. I've had a chance to reflect on the trip and I wanted to let all our scouts and leaders, and especially our alumni, know a little about how I felt.

When our two buses drove into the parking lot at Medicine Mountain, I shared with both buses a couple of things before we exited the vehicles. I told the troop that I had worked on Camp Staffs before and that I knew something to be absolutely true. True back then and true today. And here it is. Those of you who have worked on a camp staff will know exactly what I am talking about.

On the last day, when troops are leaving summer camp, staff members will think one of two things. For sure! The first, "Gosh, I'm really sorry they are leaving. I wish they could stay another week." Or, the other possibility, "Gosh, I'm glad they are leaving. I couldn't wait for them to go. I wish they had never come." One or the other.

I told the troop that we had an opportunity to control what those staff members were going to think at the end of the week. We control that. We control it with our attitude and with our enthusiasm. We control it with our ability to fit in rather than to demand extra consideration just because we are big. We control it by being willing to serve, rather than to demand. And we need to set that perception from the very minute we get off the buses.

We did and the results are in. We had one of the best summer camps we have ever had. I think our positive attitude earned us that good week. Again, from my experience on camp staffs, the staff had to be worried about our arrival. I'm sure they had meetings about it. "Here they come. A big troop. Lots of experienced men. Lots of Eagles and older kids. What are they going to be like? They will probably be demanding and arrogant. Their Eagle Scouts will probably be know-it-alls and hard to handle, especially for younger staff members. It's going to be a horrible week!"

And then we arrived. We stepped off the buses with a positive attitude. And our week was spectacular.

On the day we left, staff members were waving and crying in the parking lot. They were sorry to see us go. Staff members were passing out staff applications to our older kids, wanting them to come back. It was actually sad to leave. We were treated so well. But we earned that treatment with the way we approached camp in general, from the minute we stepped off the bus. When we left, people's perceptions of large troops was changed. Not just the staff, but the other troops we camped beside. Other troops looked at us in full uniform..and then they tried to wear their uniforms more proudly. Other troops watched our enthusiasm ...and they started to be more enthusiastic. It was wonderful to see. It really said something about setting the example.

The staff members were constantly coming up to me and telling me how courteous and polite our kids were, older and younger, and what a pleasure they were to have in classes. It was great to hear.

So, I'll close this Opportunity Knocks with a Scoutmaster's Minute that I gave after we returned from Medicine Mountain. It directly applied to our trip, and it directly applies to life.

A man had decided to leave the town where he was raised and move to another town. As he was walking down the road towards his new town, he came over a hill and saw his new home spread out in the valley. As he proceeded down the road, he noticed an old man sitting by the side of the road. He approached the old man and asked if he knew anything about the town. The old timer said he did. "What's it like?" asked the traveler.

"Well" said the old man, "what kind of town did you come from?"

"It was terrible", said the traveler. "That's why I left. People were mean there and they were not good neighbors. It was not a friendly or a happy place. I didn't like anyone and I didn't trust anyone. I hope I never see it again."

"That's sad" said the old man, "and it's too bad too. Because this town is exactly like that."

A while later, another traveler came upon the same old man sitting by the side of the road.

"Hey, old timer, do you know anything about that town down there? I'm moving there today. What's it like?"

"Well, what was it like in the town you came from?" asked the old man.

"Oh, it was a wonderful place. It was filled with caring, friendly people who would help you if you ever needed anything. Supportive and loving and so neighborly. I loved it and really hated to leave. I'm still sad about my decision because I left so many wonderful friends there."

"Well", responded the old man, "you're in luck. This town is exactly like that. You're going to love it here."

This is a great story because it lets us know that we control the quality of our future. We control it by the way we act and by the way we participate in life. If we are positive, people around us will react to that and respond in kind. Medicine Mountain proved that.

I miss Medicine Mountain. I miss it already. What an incredibly wonderful summer for the Scouts of Troop 26.

See you all next week. Same time, same place

Opportunity Knocks #75 - "All we are or all we can be, we owe to what came before us."

TWENTY YEARS AND STILL KICKING!!!

Troop 26 just returned from our second summer camp of the 2007 summer. We went to Medicine Mountain Scout Camp in South Dakota. Camping in the Black Hills. American legends abound with stories of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull and General Custer. It was a wonderful outing and I have material for several Opportunity Knocks editions. I'll get to those as soon as I can.

But first, I want to address one of the places we stopped on the way home. The Koshares in La Junta, Colorado. Our last, and in my eyes the best stop on the way back to Tulsa.

The Koshares are a dance troop. Or more precisely a Boy Scout troop, that dances. Native American dances. Wonderfully recreated in precision and costume. Every dance researched and practiced and performed by older and younger troop members alike. Our boys got to see the Koshares in action. We saw one of their summer performances on the Sunday night before we returned to Tulsa. The Koshares have been all over the world. Their recent trip to Japan was featured on posters and photographs on the walls of the kiva.

The kiva. That was something to behold as well. Even if we hadn't seen a Koshare performance, seeing the kiva would have been a spectacular way to end a perfect trip. The kiva was built by the troop, groundbreaking in 1948, specifically to provide a stage for their performances. The dance floor was surrounded by a seating area with pots and blankets and murals on the walls, each one a wonderful object of art. We were a little late getting in to La Junta and the Koshares graciously waited till we arrived before they started their evening show.

We got to see the art collection, some of the pieces in the collection being the envy of places like the Smithsonian. Bronzes, oils and watercolors, basketry and woodcarvings, and wonderful porcupine quillwork and beadwork from tribes all across America. A wonderful museum of Native American art. The collection was a treat for those of us who love Indian Lore and Native American culture. And to see it after camping for a week in the Black Hills was perfect.

Our boys also got to see the fabled Eagle room. It was an upstairs room with the photographs of the over five-hundred scouts who have earned the Eagle Scout Award with the Koshares. What a record. A visual record of excellence. Both in the area of Scouting as well as their chosen area of expertise, Native American dancing.

We learned that the Koshares started in 1933 at a shack in their Scoutmaster's back yard. A remodeled chicken coop was their first dressing room. They earned $5 for their first performance.

And after the performance, we spent the night sleeping on the same floor where we were told that President Dwight D. Eisenhower stood when he visited the Koshares. A place of promise. A place of dreams. A place of historical proportions. A place where boys became men.

How great an opportunity was that for our scouts? To see that troop! A troop that has had to deal with wars, with the economic rise and fall and rise again of La Junta. And a troop that had to deal with the death of their founder. Buck Brashears. He was a wonderful man. Our troop got to meet him in 1977 on the way home from our "Great western Tour". We were not a great troop then. But we wanted to be. And Buck told us several secrets that could help make it happen. It was wonderful to go back for another visit.

The important thing to me was the fact that the troop is still going forward, dancing with precision and respect, earning Eagle Scout awards, visiting Japan, entertaining and teaching....twenty years after their founder passed away. Twenty years. Buck would be so proud of the boys who danced for us that last Sunday night of our 2007 summer camping adventure.

All of us Scout leaders wonder about our legacy. As I looked at the bronze bust of Buck Brashears, I wondered about Troop 26 twenty years, thirty years, fifty years down the road. I wondered if we had all the pieces in place to continue the things that Jim Goller and Zeeke Damph, and Buddy Kunze and several other Scoutmasters started in that little downstairs room in the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church over on 11th street.

I sat on that floor as an eleven year old. I dreamed big dreams. I just wonder if we have prepared for the future. But it is funny. I got a phone call from Philmont Scout Ranch. Whit Fields was there on Shaefer's Pass heading for the Tooth of Time, with his Eagle Scout son Connor. The Fields live in Houston. They called my cubicle here at the hospital just to say hi. I got an E-mail from Scott Lybarger today telling me that his son, Kyle, was planning a campfire program for his troop down in Alabama. Every week or so a Troop 26 Alumni gets in touch to see if we are still going strong. We are and we are heading for a wonderful five or six years with a National Jamboree ahead.

I could see the legacy of Buck Brashears in action. Our legacy remains to be seen.
I ama reminded of something I read in the Koshare museum. It was a quote. I'm not sure if Buck said it or not. It went like this.

"All we are or all we can be, we owe to what came before us."

See you soon. I'm behind in Opportunity knocks and I'll try to do several this week to make up for that.
Bill