Since school has started, I've been reflecting on everything I did during the summer. That "everything" was pretty much working at scout camp. I know it sounds lame, or not fun, having to work up there ALL summer, with little pay, having to sleep in a tent every night, so why, anyways, do people even want to work up there??!?
Some staffers like the fact that its camping. When you are camping, you get out of the house and also out of chores. Plus, what could be better than living outside, in the mountains, all the time, breathing fresh air. Not a lot!
Although our pay isn't the best in the world, some of us are up there for FREE room and board. Yes, I did say free. Although for me, a teenager, that isn't a big deal yet, I'm sure it was for my parents. Instead of eating their food, I ate the camp food, and used camp water, supplies, etc., which saved money for my family.
Another consequence that comes with working at camp comes the opportunity to exercise ALL DAY LONG! When you wrestle with scouts, hike, and do tons of manual labor, you truly get exhausted. This "true exhaustion" makes for better sleep.
Then, most of us a up there for an even better reason. That reason is to be important in the life of a boy. On staff, there is a little idea that we read very often, written by a man named Forest Witcraft. It's called "Within My Power." This is how it goes:
"I am not a Very Important Man, as importance is commonly rated, I do not have great wealth, control a big business, or occupy a position of great honor or authority.
Yet I may someday mold destiny. For it is within my power to become the most important man in the world in the life of a boy. And every boy is a potential atom bomb in human history.
A humble citizen like myself might have been the Scoutmaster of a Troop in which an undersized unhappy Austrian lad by the name of Adolph might have found a joyous boyhood, full of the ideals of brotherhood, goodwill, and kindness. And the world would have been different.
A humble citizen like myself might have been the organizer of a Scout Troop in which a Russian boy called Joe might have learned the lessons of democratic cooperation.
These men would never have known that they had averted world tragedy, yet actually they would have been among the most important men who ever lived.
All about me are boys. They are the makers of history, the builders of tomorrow. If I can have some part in guiding them up the trails of Scouting, on to the high road of noble character and constructive citizenship, I may prove to be the most important man in their lives, the most important man in my community.
A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a boy.
So, with that, there are several reasons why you would work at a scout camp. Personally, one of those is enough for me!
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