Boy Scouts….without the Boy!

I was never a Boy Scout. It was not that I didn’t want to be I just never really thought much about scouting because of always playing sports…football in the fall and baseball in the spring…so never really had the time for Scouting. Scouting may have been a better use of my time since I really wasn’t that good at sports. I wasn’t bad it just seemed there were boys always bigger and faster than me.  One of my good friends during elementary school was a Scout, though. Jamie McManus was a preacher’s kid and I always admired his Scout uniform. Jamie seemed to always know about thing I didn’t and he would always say ” I learned it at Boy Scouts.”  It was definitely “Boy” Scouts as the “Girls” had their own group. They sold cookies and we “Boys” always looked forward to the cookie sales. I guess things were simpler then….or maybe we just didn’t know any better. Maybe we didn’t realize activities should not have been segregated between the sexes? Maybe we weren’t smart enough, in the small town of Greer, SC, to know there really shouldn’t be a Scouting organization just for Boys?  I mean, just because it has worked for 108 years doesn’t mean it was right, does it?  Surely the 100’s of thousands of “Boys” who have experienced Scouting just didn’t realize they were doing it all wrong.  With all the changes in our society I guess I really wasn’t surprised to learn the Boy Scouts of America were going to follow through with their announcement from last year that things were changing and they would be dropping the word “Boy” from their name. Going forward BSA will be simply known as Scouts BSA…effective next February.

It appears not everyone felt as I did anyway. Julia Horowitz is one of those telling the Los Angeles Timesthat she always felt cheated by only selling cookies and not being able to participate in outdoor activities. Stacie Davis, a Girl Scout troop leader for her daughter’s troop disagrees and told the LA Times she was shocked!  It appears we are in for the Scouting Wars as the Girl Scouts say they will mount an aggressive campaign to recruit the “Girls” to their organization, according to  Sylvia Acevedo, the Girl Scouts’ CEO.  Finally, the feud is being waged on social media as both sides are making their argument. Being that my two Cocker Spaniels(Jesse and Cocoa) aren’t interested in Scouting I guess it really doesn’t matter what I think as I don’t have a “dog in the hunt” as we say down south!