The obvious bad acts of a few scout leaders and the cover-up of the National Boy Scouts is a bad situation.
However, in my mind The Boy Scouts of America overall have been a tremendous asset to this country. There has been many more good things happen through the scouting program than through these situations.
Their motto is “be prepared.” Part of the scout oath makes the young men pledge “to do my duty to God and my country.”
In my youth I was a member of a scout troop. We had our meetings at the Signal Hills Baptist Church. We were led by two wonderful scoutmasters, Charlie Elmore and Sonny Ledbetter. We always closed our scout meetings with a prayer. We also had service work that we had to do to gain our badges. That service work was cleaning up homes, fixing yards, and buying food for the sick and elderly.
On our camping trips our scoutmasters helped teach us to fish and camp, and get along with others. We would take hikes and then in the evening we would cook hamburger and hot dogs and roast marshmallows around the campfire. Then the scoutmasters would tell us good, wholesome stories. We always had a prayer before going to sleep in our tents. For many of the young scouts, this was the only religious experience that they had in their life.
I hope that those that have done wrong are brought to justice but I also hope that this does not tarnish the overall benefits given to America by the Boy Scouts of America.
Russell Bean