Eagle Benster

The big news around here is that the Benster is an Eagle Scout. We had his Court of Honor over the weekend and it was a wonderful moment for our family. He had to be persistent to earn the rank of Eagle Scout and it's a credit to him that he was able to stay with it, because there were at least a half-dozen times when he could have simply quit.

I've relayed my own Scouting past before -- I never made it past the Webelos rank in Cub Scouting. There were a variety of reasons for that, but the primary one was that scouting wasn't a priority for my family. The scouts in Benster's troop who have successfully navigated the path to Eagle have generally had one thing in common -- they have come from families that support the mission of scouting and are willing to make the time commitment necessary to give the scout a chance to succeed.

Lately, you've likely heard of the latest shaming mechanism afoot for young men, the "check your privilege" meme. Becoming an Eagle Scout is, without question, a privilege, but it's a privilege that is not given away easily. A lot of kids who aren't "privileged" don't have the opportunities that Benster has had to succeed, which is one reason why so few kids become Eagle Scouts. So much depends on families.