The Troop 1954
Wednesday Newsletter

Once again, I take the liberty of publishing my remarks from last night.

Well folks, here we are again.  Another six months has passed and another Court of Honor is upon us.  As always, I want to thank all of your for coming tonight and even more than that, I want to thank all of your for your devotion to Troop 1954.  I want to thank all of you for showing up for all those meetings. 
     Why are we here?  Why do we keep coming to Scouts week after week?  There are many different answers to these questions.  In one sense, Why are we here?  Because we’re here!  We come to Scouts because it’s part of who we are.  In Scouts we find friendships and commonalities.  We find a place where we can hang out with people we like and do constructive stuff.  In another sense, we’re here to learn stuff.  We’re here to earn these merit badges and rank advancements.  Most of the kids out there want eventually to become Eagle Scouts (or their parents want them to become Eagle Scouts).  They think it will look good on a resume or help them get in to college…and perhaps it will. 
     But, ultimately, Scouting isn’t about merit badges and rank advancements.  It isn’t about becoming an Eagle Scout.  These things are just a means to an end.  Ultimately, for both youth and adults Scouting is about learning leadership and citizenship. 
     These are not things one learns like learning to tie a bowline.  A bowline is a knot made by twisting rope.  It’s a manual skill and it’s relatively easy to master.  There is such a thing as the perfect bowline, and anyone with a little patience can produce one.  Leadership and citizenship are, on the other hand, goals that we strive for, disciplines that we study.  You can never be a perfect leader or citizen in the way you can tie a perfect bowline.
     For a few moments, I’d like to think about leadership.  Leadership may be the most difficult problem we face in Troop 1954.  It’s asking a lot to require young teens to assume leadership tasks, especially in a large and rowdy group like Troop 1954.  Much of the time they really don’t know how to do it…and while I really support the BSA training programs, much of the time they don’t seem to do much good. 
     I think that the kind of leadership we need is so difficult partly because kids (and often adults) see so little of it in their daily lives.  Most of the leadership we see, in school and on the job, relies on the use of coercive power.  Do this or I will flunk you, or I will send you to detention, or I will send you to the principal, or I will fire you, or I will not give you a raise, and so on.  Truly, these are not really examples of leadership, but rather of the exercise of brute power, albeit frequently justified and in the service of a good cause (like learning math or history).  Having power makes leadership a much easier task.  There may still be good and bad leaders, but it’s a whole lot easier to make people listen to you if you can flunk ‘em.
     In Scouting, our jobs are more difficult because we don’t have this sort of power.  No one can make you be a scout.  You’re here because you like it or at least tolerate it and any of you, if you truly dig your heels in hard enough, can get your parents to take you out of this program.  Scout leaders, both youth and adult, don’t have much power because scouts and their parents can always respond to our requests by flipping us the bird and saying we’re out of here…something that you really don’t want to do to your teachers and bosses.  So our problem is essentially this: how do we exercise leadership in the absence of power?
     Of course, I don’t have any perfect answer to the question, nor do I claim great expertise in leadership, but I do have ideas.  I think that a Scout troop is like a primitive tribe (It’s certainly savage enough at times).  In many traditional tribes, it’s easy to recognize the chief.  He’s the poorest one.  Why is he so poor?  Well, essentially because everything he gets, he gives away.  In such tribes, leaders gain followers through their skill and through their example.  The way they lead is by constantly demonstrating their abilities.  In other words, they walk the walk.  They work harder and produce more than the people around them.  People follow them because they can see, on a daily basis, their diligence, hard work, and hopefully, the success that these bring.
     In Scouting, leadership is similar to this.  Both youth and adults can only really lead through the example we set.  In our case, it isn’t the largest pig herd or the greatest number of yams, as it is for many tribes.  In our case, it is our daily attempt to live by the words of the Scout Oath and Law; our attempt to be sure that this isn’t just a list of words that we recite by rote every week, but rather, a set of principles that guides us in our daily interactions with others.  I firmly believe that our ability to lead can only be based in our attempt to exemplify this oath and law.
     Like I said a moment ago, leadership is a goal and a discipline, not something we can perfect, like a bowline.  Every one in this room has probably violated every single aspect of the Oath and Law sometime in the past year.  Yet, it is still our goal, our chosen discipline, and I believe that we will only be able to achieve our potential as a troop, as leaders, through its pursuit.
       Last time I stood before you like this, I presented awards for adult leadership.  I promised at that time that there would be an award for youth as well.  Tonight, I’d like to make good on that promise.  I’d like to present the first annual Scoutmaster’s award.  While it’s called the Scoutmaster’s award, I don’t just select its recipient.  Rather, the recipient is selected by vote of the troop committee and patrol coaches.  The award does not go to the scout with the most advancement or the highest position.  Instead, it goes to the scout who, in our opinion, best exemplifies the Scout Law and best promotes the welfare of the troop; who takes the Oath and Law both seriously and thoughtfully. 
     It’s not an easy award to present because I know you all and really like each of you and I really think that each of you tries to be a good scout in your own way.  However, the committee and coaches did send me a clear signal this year, and one with which I concur.  It's my pleasure to present the First Annual Scoutmaster's Award to Justin Williams.