BSA National Jamboree - Trump Edition

I had been seeing a lot about the Boy Scout’s National Jamboree this week on Facebook and thinking about how great it would be for my son to be able to go to one when he's old enough. A scout needs to be 12 and First Class, so not the next Jamboree, but the one after that.

As a somewhat underwhelming Boy Scout myself, I never got the chance to go, so hopefully he’ll want to go. But when I woke up this morning, my Facebook feed was filled with comments and posts about President Trump’s speech at the Jamboree.

I wish I were surprised at what he said. But I wasn't. He turned an opportunity to talk about service and the great opportunities that the 45,000 plus boys (and girls) in attendance have to change their world for the better. Instead, he took the chance to take a shot at the media (who he predicted would under report the attendance of the Jamboree), take shots at President Obama who didn't make it to the Jamborees during his tenure (no mention about Reagan’s absence) and threaten one of his cabinet members that he would be fired if he didn't help tens of millions lose health insurance.

Those are not the values that exist in the Scout Law. Those are not the values that I teach to a small group of six year olds, nor the ones I have been saying in the beginning and end of scout meetings for the past 30 something years. 

The Jamboree is about scouts being together and enjoying an amazing Scout camp. Not about feeding the ego of a politician.

Disclosure: I was a Boy Scout and Cub Scout as a youth and have spent most of my adult life as an adult Scout leader. Currently I am a Troop Committee Chairman and a Cub Scout Den Leader.