The winds of change

In Ron Wendell’s book, The Scoutmaster Minute, I was perusing to find a topic for the inaugural Scoutmaster post. Interestingly, I came upon a short paragraph on change.

“Nothing is as constant as change. Everything around us changes. Opportunities come and go. Best friends that we have today, while they will always be our friends, by tomorrow they may be gone to distant lands”. (Wendel, 2005)

Why I find this topic to be such an important and satisfying topic for the inaugural post on the website is two-fold. One, Troop 76 of Fairfield, Pennsylvania has, for many, been a staple of the community. The thing about staples is, they are kind of rigid and do not always flex with change. So it is only natural that adding a website and technology to Scouting in this community has, in large part, been a non-factor. But time catches up to all things, and so here I sit, writing a Scoutmaster minute on our first attempt (to my knowledge) of a website.

The second reason why I think it is so important to discuss change, is that for the first time in the storied history of BSA Troop 76, we are welcoming Females into the fold. For some, the idea of girls in the boy scouts is the downfall of society. For others, welcoming females only strengthens scouting’s mission.

So here’s my thought and mission for Troop 76. Troop 76 must, in order to maintain the integrity of the scouting mission, transition from a staple, to a rubber band. Rather than resist change and all that it encompasses, be flexible, like the rubber band. We can and should continue to be the staple of the community in the sense that we are part of it. Unlike the staple though, you cannot grow. The rubber band will keep us together allowing us to continue to instill the values and traditions of the scouting movement to more than just a limited audience. It is my mission as Scoutmaster for troop 76 to continue to strengthen those values and traditions, no matter who they are being applied to. So while we ride the winds of change, I am thankful and blessed to be part of the rubber band, and will always remember that I too started as a staple.