8.21.2008

shouldn't i be impressed?

One of the (many) things I adore about my husband is that he's an Eagle Scout, and he's awesome about it. He's introduced a lot of good boy-scouty things into my life - things like the giant first aid kit in the closet and a penchant for trying to be on time. A lot of his scout learnings and habits line up well with my inner 1950s Housewife. Plus, I think the housewife kinda has a crush on the grown up boy scout.

While you and I may have a pretty good impression of what a boy scout 'is,' I'm learning that there are different kinds of scouts. Ultimately, boy scouts are BOYS, so I try to discern between 'scouts being boys' and 'boys pretending to be scouts.' Brian is definitely 100% boy and also 100% scout. He's conscientious (help the old lady across the street kind of thing) without being a brown-noser. He's really good with ropes and even bungee cords - he can rig up anything needing rigged...and when I asked him to show me some things, he made a lasso and started roping me around the room. He shows up places early just to help out, he takes an interest in his community, he has lots of ideas for how to improve things. He can actually NAME the stuff in our toolbox!

My husband is a great example of a Scout. He designed his big project to be helpful and make a real difference to his church - he fixed/improved a sidewalk pathway area from one building to another, made it more accessible and visible, etc. That's, to me, what being an Eagle Scout is all about - living your life in such a way that you can and do contribute to those around you.  You know, scouty stuff like that.

I've earned even more respect for my husband, a good scout, through work. Part of my job description will sometimes cause me to become involved in collaboration with boy scouts. I've met some great kids in doing this, and I've also met some duds. Some real duds. Boys pretending to be scouts. I have had particularly bad experiences with this one fellow. NOT impressive. He was working on a project to benefit one of my programs as his Eagle project, but he didn't want to do TOO much work. He didn't want to meet with me until I demanded to see him in person. He communicated with me through his parents, who while being very fine and gracious people were NOT the Eagle-Scout-to-be, so this particularly annoyed me. He wasn't interested in keeping open lines of communication, never sent the updates I requested, and was unhappy when I told him that I wouldn't be able to provide him the materials he needed - as is my workplace's policy. And then, when we found a way for me to provide them after all, he lost all the hardware.

I am not impressed. I didn't want to sign off on this project. I'm disheartened that there's no built-in mechanism for me to review him - I just sign some forms and then I never hear from him again. He did basically everything I asked for, initially, but he did it with his door closed and his feet dragging. He's disrespectful to his parents, too, and right in front of me. This makes me really crazy. While I have nothing against him personally and I'm entirely sure he is capable of success, he is, in my opinion, less than what an Eagle Scout should be, in my mind.

What would YOU do in this situation?  Sign the forms and just move on?  Say something to somebody when it's basically too late to do anything else?  Tell him/her how disappointed you are and sign it anyway?  (what good would that do?)


1 comment:

  1. I'm not really sure how the whole becoming an Eagle Scout process goes but if there's anyway you can prevent him from becoming an Eagle Scout I think that's a good idea. My boyfriend is also an Eagle Scout and from the sound of it I don't think this kid deserves to be in the same ranks as your husband/my boyfriend because they are both wonderful, giving people. I wouldn't have been impressed either. But then again, you're a much nicer person than I am :)

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