I just read that 45,000 Boy Scouts booed the President of the United States for failing to address them in person at this year's National Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. Instead of addressing the Scouts, President Obama appeared on "The View" television show.
I was a Scout myself for 10 years and received the Eagle Rank in March 1962. Later I was an adult leader. When my own son was old enough, he joined the Scouts and I was a den leader, assistant scoutmaster, and District Committee member. I think I have a pretty good idea of what Scouting is and ought to be.
The Scouts' shameful display of disrespect at the Jamboree is not it.
Here's a memo to the Scouts: sometimes in this life - and may yours be long and happy - things don't go your way. You don't always get everything you want. Life has its disappointments and setbacks. As incredible as it may now seem, there are some people and things in this world that are actually more important, or at least more immediate, than you are.
When that happens, you can boo and complain. Or you can suck it up, man up, and move on. Which do you think good Scouts should do?
Understand this: the President of the United States is an elected official. In today's partisan political climate, he has to gauge almost all of his actions partly in terms of their electoral impact. He can't do the job at all if his team doesn't get elected or re-elected. And the mid-term elections are only three months away.
You may not like it but that's the way it is.
No offense to you, but the President will gain a lot more electoral advantage from appearing on "The View" than he would by addressing 45,000 people who are too young to vote anyway. That's just a fact of political life. Sorry, but it's true; that's the way our system works. It's not a perfect system.
I am not a religious man; in fact, for more than 50 years the Scout Law has been my religion. I believe that when I come to the end of all my days, I will have very little explaining to do if I can say to the Almighty that I lived my life according to the Scout Law: "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, reverent."
But because I am not a religious man, I have substituted for "Reverent' in my own personal credo another "R' word: Respectful. A Scout is Respectful. A Scout is respectful of himself and others, whether he agrees with them or not.
Maybe it is now time to add Respectful to the Scout Law.
The shameful lack of respect these Scouts showed to the President at this year's Jamboree reflects poorly on the organization, its proud legacy, and on the Scouts themselves. They have disgraced the uniform and its heritage.
The Scouts owe the President an apology.
