The ever-eloquent defender of authentic masculinity, Anthony Esolen, has a lovely essay on the Boys Scouts, noting that one troop had an unprecedented eleven Eagle Scouts recently, which has turned heads even at the Washington Post.
The boys, who called themselves the Viking Patrol, were initially a bunch of whiners and losers, "ninnies" as one of the leaders called them, lying down in the middle of the trail along one of their first hikes, a gentle three-miler.
The article doesn't give too many details about what transformed them. A couple of things do stand out, though. The leaders seem to have responded to the boys' sissiness by making things more difficult for them, not easier. The turning point came when, on a hike in Alaska, the boys didn't want to pitch their tents, didn't want to hang their food up so as not to attract bears, didn't want to set up their latrines, and so on. So the leaders left them to themselves. The result was that they did organize themselves after all; they formed a team, and got the jobs done. After that, they were on their way.
Where this intersects with the vocation to femininity is the realm of understanding that men are formed, ultimately, by other men. Steel on steel. What would I have done if a little fellow fell whimpering onto the path, sure he couldn't continue? Maybe sit with him encouraging, wheedling, challenging, etc. But leaving him? Never. That's the difference, and it worked. We coddle and comfort, which has its place, but that's not what makes boys into men.
The title, Per Aspera ad Astra, translates into "through adversity to the stars" indicating the firm place that trials should have in the formation of young men. Few of us resort to bubble wrap, but the temptation is great. Esolen knows the dangers and suggests this line for a political candidate (given the controversy surrounding public funding of a group guilty of "hate crimes.")
What if a man like Mr. Obama could set aside the metaphysics of the Left, and notice, as a plain matter of fact, that the Boy Scouts work. Such a man could then say, to those who would harry the organization out of existence, "Leave it alone. I don't agree with some of their principles, but I don't see anything else on the horizon that works as well as they do. By executive order, I will funnel as much money as I can to cities and counties to work with the Scouts, because I care about one thing and that alone: to save as many boys as I can from the gangs, the gutters, and the grave. I want results."
Highly unlikely, but that doesn't stop us from putting programs into place that will allow boys to rub shoulders with men. Sadly fathers aren't always available, so men may have to reach beyond their own progeny, for the sake of the wider community. We have to back these initiatives with prudence and prayer.
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