On my honor

Honor is a word and concept that is being distorted, derided, and laughed at these days. To serve with honor, live with honor, or even die with honor seem to be foreign concepts to many of today’s youth. However, less than two generations ago, “honor” was a basic principle.

In 1962, General Douglas McArthur gave his famous “Duty, Honor, Country” speech when he received the Thayer Award from West Point. He referred to duty, honor, and country as three hallowed words that “reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.”

“The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right and its restraints are from the things that are wrong.”

His inspiring words are being put to the test – not on the battlegrounds, but on the school grounds. Various groups have battled The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in an attempt to change their basic tenets. The mission of the BSA is to “prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.”

The Scout Oath, which has got various entities in a brouhaha, states: “On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight [bold words and emphasis added].”

The BSA has held this oath since its inception in 1910. The battle from without has come from various groups to force the Scouts to make changes from within. This campaign against the Scouts culminated with the U.S. Supreme Court granting a decision to allow BSA the right to set its own standards for leadership.

This has not stopped the naysayers from castigating our youth for living by their oath. Public schools, government institutions, the United Way, and numerous other groups have ridiculed and threatened Scouting. Their latest battle comes from the American Library Association (ALA).

In 1998, the council for the ALA, the world’s largest library organization, condemned BSA over its policies, and at their annual convention in June 2006, several members of the ALA governing council plan to sever all ties with the BSA if they do not stop “discriminating” against avowed atheists and homosexuals. Mark Rosenzweig, a former archivist with the U.S. Communist Party, is leading their efforts.

“It is scary that an organization which purports to believe in free speech and intellectual freedom would take this kind of action,” stated BSA spokesman Bob Bork. “It is a Soviet-style effort to make us a non-person.”

If others succeed in changing the Boy Scout program, it will signal the death knell of the BSA. Many religious groups, most notably Roman Catholics, Protestants, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, represent nearly 50 percent of the Boy Scouts’ support. If the oath were changed, BSA would lose much of this support base.

In an era when tolerance should be as important as honor, there seems to be little tolerance by activists. “A core value of the BSA is respect. Scouting respects those with ideas and customs that are different from our own and expects the same respect from those who may disagree with Scouting’s position. Tolerance for a diversity of values and ideals does not require abdication of one’s own values. If human rights are the issue let us remove the mask of deception,” wrote Nanette Overholt a library associate at the County Library in Solano, California who is opposed the ALA’s argument.

Overholt continues: “There is no persecution against the right to be gay that comes from the Boy Scouts of America, but there does seem to be a constant harassment and bullying from the gay community for the Boy Scouts to conform to their beliefs. The gay community seems to want to abolish the right and freedom to think differently than themselves.” She ends with this question: “Who is tolerant here?”

Scouting remains steadfast in a storm of shifting values. In a world where parents are grasping to find programs to help raise responsible and respectful children, the Scouting program provides a comforting oasis. As parents of an Eagle Scout, we salute the efforts of the BSA organization to prepare our sons to live with honor and make “ethical and moral choices over their lifetime” by instilling the values of the Scout Oath.

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Rik is a business instructor at NMC and Janel is the owner of Positively Outrageous Results. They can be contacted at: biz_results@yahoo.com