Scoutmaster Minute -- 15 December 2020

Earning the rank of Eagle Scout takes a lot of time, but it can be done.  One can also balance other things like sports and academics and still earn Eagle.  Want an example?  Look at Kyle Trask.  Trask is the starting quarterback for the University of Florida Gators.  He is not just any quarterback – he is a Heisman Trophy candidate.  He also carries close-to-a 4.0 GPA.  He is also an Eagle Scout.  How did he dedicate time to play football well enough to get an athletic scholarship and earn Eagle Scout?  He balanced his time wisely.

 

We all complain that we do not have enough time, yet our lives are full of time thieves – unproductive periods that sap the time from our days.  It is true – 'all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy;' we do need time to unwind and devote to pleasure.  Yet, sometimes the divide between our playtime and our work time gets out of whack and we devote too much to the former and not enough to the latter.  It is easy to lose oneself in a computer game and let an intended hour of play become two or three or more hours.  Some of us grow out of shape because we cannot fit 30 minutes of exercise into our daily schedule, but our smartphones' weekly reports tell us we have spent more than four hours a day looking at our screens.  This is not productive.  We have to take a solid look at what is truly important in our lives and plan our time accordingly.

 

I hear it a lot:  "I don't have time for Scouts because of baseball" or "I don't have time for Scouts because of schoolwork".  To that I will tell you, do not be a 'one-trick pony' – learn to balance activities and do a myriad of things well.  Colleges and employers look for candidates that can balance multiple activities well.  You might as well learn this now, because adulthood will demand it.

 

Time is a finite resource – use it well.

 

A Scout is Thrifty.

Scoutmaster Minute, 1 December 2020

Sixty-five years ago today, the Montgomery, Alabama Police Department arrested Rosa Parks because she refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger and move to the back of the bus, as was the law in Montgomery during that time.  We know of Rosa Parks' bravery, not just in this instance but also throughout her career as a civil-rights activist spanning across her 92 years, because we are students of history.  As lifelong learners, we study history because we know that to fail to learn history dooms us to repeat it. 

Lesser known that the story of Rosa Parks is the story of her bus driver that December day in 1955, James F. Blake.  Twelve years prior, Rosa Parks had gotten onto a bus driven by Blake.  After she paid her bus fare, Blake ordered her exit the bus and enter from the back door.  He did not have to do this, but he had the authority to make her do it.  Rather than comply, Rosa Parks surrendered her bus fare and took the next bus.  For 12 years, Rosa Parks avoided getting on buses driven by Blake.  Yet, on that day of December 1^st, 1955, she forgot to look at who was driving the bus.  She entered and sat in the 'Colored' section as required.  When the 'White' section filled up, Blake ordered her and other black passengers to move back further in the bus, stating "Y'all better make it light on yourselves and let me have those seats."  When Parks refused, Blake pulled over the bus and called the bus company.  In a later interview with the Washington Post, Blake stated, ""I called the company first, just like I was supposed to do.  I got my supervisor on the line.  He said, 'Did you warn her, Jim?'  I said, 'I warned her.'  And he said, and I remember it just like I'm standing here, 'Well then, Jim, you do it, you got to exercise your powers and put her off, hear?'  And that's just what I did."  In short time, Montgomery police officers showed up and arrested Parks, with Blake signing the arrest warrant.

James Blake contended that he had no choice – the law is the law and he was just following it.  Note this is the same unsuccessful defense given by Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann during the post-WWII Nuremberg trials:  "Just following orders."  Often we look at laws in the past and say, "What were they thinking?  How could they justify that?"  Just think, someone from the past asked the same question, challenged the laws, and pushed to change the law.  In the case of Montgomery, Alabama bus laws, a 381-day bus boycott caused a lack of revenue which ultimately resulted in a change in the laws.

When you see an injustice rooted in laws, norms, customs, or tradition, do you accept it for what it is or do you seek to right the wrong?  Are you a catalyst for change or do you just "go with the flow?"  Whatever life throws at you, do not lose your compassion for people.  Stand up for what you believe is right; do not let easy cowardice overcome your ability to choose the hard right.

A Scout is Kind.  A Scout is Brave.