Cub Scouts

There are saints out there in the world. I know many and my parents would be in that group. Sunday school teachers and teachers, in general, are in that category, too, as well as many others. One unsung group has to be Cub Scout Den Mothers. What would possess someone to take on supervision of 10-12 young boys, I don’t know? They meet one evening during the week and attend a pack meeting of all dens once a month. That is a big commitment no matter how you look at it.

I was in Pack 28. It included the area south of the railroad tracks and north of highway 34. We had a Pack meeting the last Thursday of every month. It was held at the National Guard Armory. Big events of the year included the Blue and Gold Banquet and the Pine Wood Derby. I got second place in the derby in 1958. I still have the car Dad and I made and the award they gave me for second place. I actually had it won until a kid showed up late. They let him race me even though he hadn’t participated up to that point. He beat me and I guess that is the bottom line.

I was in Den 2. We were the only Den that met year around. We met on Monday evenings at the Liechty’s. Mrs. Max Liechty was the Den Mother. She was the senior Den Mother of Pack 28 because she had actually survived it for more that three years. The life expectancy of a Den Mother in those days was somewhere between three and seven months. It has increased over the years with the introduction of drugs like Prozac and other calming medications.

Mrs. Rabedeaux assisted Mrs. Liechty when she could. Other members of our Den were Roger Milks, Tom Weir, Allen Barnes, Jerry Liechty, Robert Ross, Garry LeMaster, and David Rabedeaux. Joe Liechty was the Den Chief. He was 3 years older than us and a Webelo.

The Webelos were older Cub Scouts who met on a different night. Everybody wanted to be a Webelo because they got to make neat things with leather. Somewhere I think I still have the belt I made when I finally became a Webelo. Webelos made things with wood, too. Webelos were cool! Of course, the ultimate goal for everyone was to be a Boy Scout.

I think I learned a lot as a Scout. I learned about how to get along with others, about dignity, and about respect. Without Scouting I would have probably learned those things some other way but Scouting worked for me. We also learned about ritual through uniforms, practices, salutes, oaths, and rules. Many of them seem silly now but they were really important then. Silly or not, learning about ritual is important. It is not the ritual by itself but the process that is important, as it has been across time. Ritual is in everything whether you believe it or not.

There are other things I learned from scouting, too. Things I am not so proud of. Things like swearing. We actually practiced our swearing in Scouts. Not when the adults were around, of course, but we did practice. The whole idea of swearing is to make it sound like you mean it. Not so easy for an eight year old who doesn’t even know what most of the words mean. But we tried! Then we would critique each other. Kids who grew up in a home with swearing had the edge. My home wasn’t like that. I don’t think I ever heard my mother swear and my father only a few times when I was much older. Consequently, I could never do it very well and usually laughed when I tried. A definite “no no” in swearing. If you’re going to swear effectively not even a smile is permitted.

So, thanks to Scouting, I guess I grew up ritual enhanced, but profanity impaired.