My reign of terror is over
 

Was officially released today as Scoutmaster.

It's weird being released. You get a brief "thank you, we are releasing you" from the Bishopric the week before, then they announce it in Sacrament meeting, and then it's done. There is no goodbye, there is no farewell speech to the boys, you just show up to EQ, and that's it.

No words from any boy or parent. No back-slapping, nothing.

Kind of a weird system we have.

I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to work with the young men. I gave up time with my family (esp. w/ my son), I gave up aspects of some of my hobbies/leisure interests, but it was worth it (except for the part of not spending time w/ my son).

On the other hand, I have a better understanding now of why people turn down callings. It's a lot of time, often in behalf of people who could care less. Or at least, sometimes it feels like that.

The point is, you don't do this stuff for appreciation or love. You do it because you believe in service and the idea of possibly making a difference, even if most of the time it feels like you are spinning your wheels.

This is the end of the Western, where the cowboy rides out of town. Alone.

I don't know, in my wards, we've definitely had farewell meetings (not Sacrament, but some other forum) for scoutmasters who served long and well. They have all been touching, and it made you realize the deep impact the outgoing scoutmasters had on a generation of young men. I'm surprised your ward didn't do anything. Maybe they will. Maybe they'll call the ol' cowboy back from his lonely ride out of town. Or maybe they won't.

Sounds to me like they're just a bunch of ill-mannered ingrates, ignoramuses. I'm sorry, Mike.

I'm as guilty of poor manners and ingratitude as anyone else.

Now that I've walked a mile I will be more sensitive in showing appreciation.

I have gone through a similar thought process. I wonder what happened to all the friends of years past. I think, they are a bunch of self-absorbed jerks. Then on further reflection I think I must be a very painful person to associate with, and also realize I have done next to nothing to cultivate those old friendships.

One of the things I am most proud of:

In my 3+ years, we camped almost every month. We had a summer camp every summer. We had two different Philmont excursions (which I did not attend).

In all that time, I didn't miss a single campout.

There was one campout, where I made arrangements to not attend. But it was canceled by the YM president due to predicted hail, ice, and snow.

For another campout, me and the YM President showed up the church, and not a single boy came. We canceled that campout as well. But I was proud, that in a troop that had not regularly camped in sometime, where cancellations of campouts were frequent, we had a group of adults that were arguably more dedicated than the scouts. We had more than one campout where there were more adults than boys. As in 6 adults, and 4 boys.

All of those campouts kind of blur together. Different boys, different adults, different places, different weather.

I hope that is part of my legacy, that the troop continues to camp.

So have you been given a new calling yet?

No.

I tell you it was very refreshing to sleep through part of EQ lesson last week. Just like old times.

If so, you'll absolutely love HP meeting.

The three main activities one should indulge in during EQ:
1. Staring at your watch
2. Fiddling with your smartphone
3. Napping