Fifty years after Camp Lazarus
I remember my first job at Camp Lazarus 50 years ago.
It was The Nature Director. And, my second job as Program Director.
And, oh yea, and over the course of five years, I made a few life long friends
like Bob Wells, Kip Metzger and Dan Bennington. And, I learned
lots of lessons, a few of which were never covered in The Scout Oath and
Laws.
While I was earning money for college and while as a Camp Lazarus staff
member, I represented the heart of the Scouting Program at summer camp, I
found myself living the dream….I was being paid for doing what I loved to
do. But, I wasn’t even aware at that time of my most valuable Camp
Lazarus lessons until years after I left that summer dream in Delaware County.
Lets begin with a few facts. A successful life is not always like
summer camp. Sometimes life is tough and here are a few of those camp
lessons I learned to understand in later years:
1. Sometimes those “Pots of Gold”
we encounter are burdens we don’t need.
2. Great success requires a high price.
3. We are empowered or limited by our own vision.
4. We often must deal with our fears as we move to our next levels of life
5. In the midst of pain, we must keep our focus on
our dream.
6. When change is needed, we must be able to leave the comfort of
our chair and walk away.
7. When our current life isn't working, we must be able to walk
through that wall of fire and enter a new world.
I retired at 54 years of age from a pubic school program in Illinois.
I had worked, successfully, with students who were "“on track” and, often unsuccessfully, with those who
appeared destined for lives full of pain and suffering. I did hate to
fail and, at retirement, I decided to work again to help a few of those “off-track”
youth to return to a successful life. It was a walk I will never forget
and, like Camp Lazarus, I left with a few new friends that will remain in
my heart always.
After retirement, I was working part-time in an Alternative School Program.
I watched as a few young men were rejected by their home school and, later,
rejected by my alternative school program. They walked with defeat in
their world that was numb and “ruleless”…far from the comfort of that higher
life trail with family support, community opportunity and school success.
I helped about 20 of those young adults find their dream again and I helped
them take those first few steps toward return to a successful life road.
No successful life is easy. Lord Robert Baden Powell’s life was not
easy. The life of William D. Boyce, the American newspaper writer, was
also not easy. When we see only the successful ending of lives, we
are thrilled but we are also deceived. And, similarly, when we see “failure”
without any hope of success, we are also deceived.
Baden Powell did not stay at home. He was a world traveler and he
lived within the cultures of several worlds…Military, Political, African
and British. You must realize he lived a “tough life” before television,
flush toilets, computers or cell phones. My point is, he lived before
travel was easy and the risks when leaving home were much greater than they
are today. He listened to his own drummer and he followed a mysterious
unfolding dream based on the premise, I suspect, that many of life’s lessons
come to us with personal commitment, action and discomfort.
So, there I was, sitting in the midst of the pain and suffering of others.
I knew those young men had quit trying. They were filled with anger
and hurt and sought only to avoid the judgment of others and the opportunity
for success. I spent hours challenging their apathy and listening for
their lost hopes. I spent hours helping them discover their dreams again
and plotting their course. I spent lots of days walking with them and
re-writing the plan for their lives. Most mustered up enough courage
to take those first steps. A few went on to live successful lives.
So, where does this fit with Merit Badges? How is Scouting related
to this story that engages with life’s “losers”? We begin with an understanding
that life is really no more than small steps combined together creating a
path we see later. A life is often not understood before we reach
our destination. So, the Merit Badge concept is no more than a guided
pathway leading to our goal. For “off-track” youth, the road to success
begins with our first life “Merit Badge” and continues with subsequent steps
that lead to individual success. Oh yes, as I worked with these “off-track”
youth, I was reminded of my Camp Lazarus experiences and I could see the glimmers
of the same success that Scouts found on their upward trail to becoming an
Eagle Scout.
So, what did I find on my walk, 50 years later, with these few young men?
Lots of pain with Sheighn’s suicide, with Aaron’s emergence of Schizophrenia,
with a couple young men sitting in prison, with a couple drinkers who couldn’t
leave their comfortable chair and with a few stagnant young men who decided
to wait for their “sugar mama”.
But wait, there was lots of successes too, with David’s choice to enlist
in The United States Navy where he now serves with his wife and daughter.
And, there is Mike’s membership in The Illinois National Guard and his
home life with his wife and son.
Want more? There is Andrew’s college degree and Woody’s life as a
carpenter with his wife and his two children. And, there are
many other stories still playing out.
We can’t see their destination but we know they are on their walk again.
Like life at Camp Lazarus, each player must work one step at a time without
any guarantees. For all of us, the wind blows, the hills reveal where
we must place our next step and we have no control over what He has in store
for today’s weather. Its an exciting life road we all can walk.
And, for a few, the road holds extraordinary futures, magical outcomes that
far exceed any dreams we could have ever envisioned. And, for myself,
many of the lessons I teach began years ago at Camp Lazarus.
