Let me finish with Bob Gate’s push to end the ban on gay scoutmasters. I hope we can work this out in a way that keeps scouting a vital force in this country.
READ MORE: Boy Scouts’ president says ban on gay adults ‘cannot be sustained’
Some of my best times growing up were on Treasure Island, the historic Boy Scout camp on the Delaware River between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Those weeks up there fill me with memories, of parade ground, of fun and games in the dining hall, of canoe trips and campfires, and “Father’s Night,” when the dads came up to visit.
I had a special advantage in those years. As a member of the Order of the Arrow, the scout honor society and service organization, I got to spend weekends working at camps during the off-season. It was a chance for older scouts like us to spend time, as equals, with young men who’d kept up their interest in scouting. There is nothing like good work to bring people together. I’m hoping that men of goodwill will find a way to keep scouting alive and bring good men in the door to keep going what was for me a great part of growing up. Scouts honor!
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