2010-01-04

Eagle Scout Stories: my contribution

As a lifetime member of the National Eagle Scout Association, I was recently invited to contribute a short statement about how my experiences in scouting had contributed to my life. Here is the full text of my submission:
Scouting was a very important part of my youth, and I will always look back upon those days with fondness. The discipline and skills I learned in the pursuit of the rank of Eagle have served me well in life, both in my profession and in my personal life. Scouting instilled in me a spirit of adventure that eventually led me to move to Sweden, and later, Switzerland.
I feel it is my duty to acknowledge my disappointment in the BSA’s regrettable decision to exclude gays and atheists from scouting. Scout organizations in other parts of the world do not discriminate on the basis or religion or sexual orientation. It is high time that the BSA take a more enlightened view, and respect the rightful place of all who wish to participate.

It is my sincere hope that the NESA include my contribution in its entirety in the publication, to be entitled Eagle Scout Stories: Tales from the Trails of Scouting’s Highest Rank. The Boy Scouts of America holds that atheists and agnostics are incapable of being good citizens, and that homosexuals are morally crooked and unclean. The BSA’s position is not just controversial; it is indefensible.

6 comments:

Jill Douglass said...

Hear, hear!

Shmuel said...

As a fellow Eagle, I agree.

Shawn said...

As an Eagle Scout myself, it earned me the rank of E-2 in the Army.I served with 332 Amb.Co., U.S. Army Reserve,260TH Qm. Bn., and First Armored Division, stationed in Germany.
I was an Ammunition Technician from 1992-1996, and a Combat Medic from 1998-2005. I even spent time in El-Salvador, Egypt, and Iraq.I was there for the first part of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 5/03-8/04.

Unknown said...

I sincerely believe that having been an Eagle Scout was the single most important reason for my being selected to fly fighter aircraft in the Air Force. I ended up fortunate enough to fly both the F-4 and F-16 aircraft and recently retired. About half way through my 25 year career I read a Thesis from an Air Force Academy student. He surveyed and sited that, over 76% of Air Force Fighter Pilots were also Eagle Scouts !

Unknown said...

I am an Eagle, and I agree with your statement.

Nick Y said...

Another eagle agrees. It should just be a non-question.