From The Storyteller
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Oct. 22, 2018, Camp
The sun is hot, and 15 guys with someone riding on their back are doing their best to knock 14 other teams down. This is a classic, Boy Scout, summer camp, water fight. I am watching what they’re doing because I have life guard duty. 4 hours, even with breaks, watching other guys having fun, is boring. When you work in paradise, it’s still work. After three years of summer camp I earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and was picked to serve as a “Scout Leader”. The adults who ran the camp did a ton of work setting things up, and making sure things went smoothly. My duties as a “Scout Leader” were “other jobs as specified.” This is when I learned grocery shopping, with an adult leader for 30 hungry boys, was not meant to be a fun event. Four of us had been selected to be “Scout Leaders”, and we had the privilege of bunking together in a “Leadership” tent. This meant we went to bed after the other guys did, and got up before them. There were things that needed to be prepared before 30 hungry young men realized it was morning, and we were a part of that team that prepared it. This was that time in my life when the term “worked my butt off” took on real meaning. There are no sour grapes here! Yes, during those two weeks I worked some long hard hours and had real responsibilities. It was also where I discovered what being an adult leader meant. We may have only been teenagers, but we were treated like men, and we were expected to act like it. Respect is earned from a job well done. It felt good then, and still does today. Moral: The actions of leaders and servants often look the same. |