I’ve previously pointed out that in Scouting, as in life, things don’t always go the way you expect them to – and that, in fact, Scouting is designed to be a safe place to fail. Plus, Scouting is best done outdoors, where the vagaries of the weather also come into play. As a result, Scouts […]

We just welcomed our new Crossovers to our Troop. Those are the former Cub Scouts who, having achieved the highest rank in that organization, the Arrow of Light, have now “graduated” into Scouts BSA, and moved from their old Pack into a Troop. As part of their welcome, a group of our adult leaders took […]

Scouting is just like any other organization in one important way. It’s made up of people – people of varying talents and abilities and moods and personalities. It’s obvious that those people, whether the Scouts themselves or the adult leaders and parents who support them, share a lot of common interests and values. That fact, […]

The passing of rock drumming legend Neil Peart of Rush wouldn’t seem to fit in with this month’s ruminations. But it does – trust me on this. I’d already decided to write about questioning your own experience, based on a passage from a book I read recently. Peart hitting the news reminded me of how […]

Those unfamiliar with Scouting are usually surprised to hear that one of its core values is that Troops are Scout-led. “What exactly does that mean?” is a typical question. It’s pretty self-explanatory. In a well-functioning Troop, the Scouts lead everything: Troop meetings, outings, service projects, and short-term and annual planning. Adults are there to facilitate […]

A few weeks ago my older son John and I spent the better part of a week aboard the 52 foot sailing ketch Retriever, as part of the Scouts BSA Great Lakes Sailing Adventure. We had two experienced crew leading the way, Captain Steph and First Mate Jonathan. The actual crewing of the boat was done […]

One of my most respected LinkedIn contacts is Phil Rink, a fellow engineer who writes the Jimi & Isaac series of children’s books, and is generally well-informed about anything he chooses to comment on. I just recently finished the second book of his series, Jimi & Isaac 1b: Curve Ball. (I love reading good kids’ books – […]

I think a great way to approach life is to consider deeply all the moments you can never get back. To illustrate, let me give you an analogy. For a good chunk of my career I was a Packaging System Engineer with General Mills, providing technical help to the work teams who put cereal into […]

It was just two days ago I wrote about avoiding victimhood by counting your blessings and finding heroes. I closed with a postscript about there being heroes all around us, easy to find if we pay attention. Last night our Boy Scout Troop did a timely service project at a local cemetery, clearing overgrowth and cleaning up […]

If you see me at Webelos or Boy Scout camp at Gerber Scout Reservation this summer, or at any of our Troop 292 monthly campouts, or maybe even just out hiking around my neighborhood, I’ll probably be hauling a big black backpack with MOLLE attachments (Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment, a military-designed system for attaching pouches […]