THOUGHTFUL RAMBLING No. 11
"Ready For Takeoff"

Friday night, I sat outside in the dark, in the cold, under the sliver of a crescent moon as Chief Grey Fox and his brave, Jake Long Eagle spoke to me, a dozen other parents and seven Webelos about the importance of honor, integrity and holding each other up. About taking care of Mother Earth and honoring the Great Spirit. About the importance of becoming the next generation of leaders.

Friday night was Matthew's Arrow of Light ceremony. For those not in Scouting, the Arrow of Light is the highest achievement a Cub Scout can attain. It's the last step of the five-year journey through Cub Scouting and the bridge to becoming a Boy Scout. The ceremony lasted for a little over an hour. Our boys didn't move a muscle.

Chief Grey Fox is actually a 59-year-old architect named Danny Mimms. His ranch, a sprawling 50-acre horse farm, has been a favorite camping spot for our Pack for five years and Friday night, he invited us there for our Arrow of Light. A very special Arrow of Light ceremony that Danny does for any troop smart enough to ask him.

Danny is a tall, thin, soft spoken man who serves as ScoutMaster for a rural Boy Scout troop out in Bartonville that none of our boys will end up joining. But he will be a guiding force in their development based on a single hour Friday night.

Lit only by 12 single candles and a small fire, he talked to the boys about respecting and caring for each other and about taking care of the earth God has given us. "We haven't inherited the Earth from the generations before us," he said. "We're borrowing it from generations yet to come." He talked to the boys about the importance of being a leader and that very soon, our country will be in their hands. He talked about having a reverance for the Great Spirit. The God that spared his life.

In the silent chill of the Texas February night, Danny Mimms told us how he served two tours in Vietnam, where he won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and four commendations for bravery as the head of his unit. By his own admission, he should have been dead many times over. But he's not. By the grace of the Great Spirit he's here. To be a husband to his wife. A father to his three sons. To be a mentor to our boys. Thank you God.

In two weeks, our boys will bridge into Boy Scouts and begin their journey toward becoming an Eagle Scout. Like President Ford, Jim Lovell, Sam Nunn, Walter Cronkite, Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Stewart, Bill Bradley, William Bennett and Ross Perot before them, Matthew and his friends will spend the next six years working to achieve what only one out of 100 scouts ever achieves.

Friday night, as we lit candles in the darkness and talked of honor and integrity and leadership, I was again taken back to the decision before us in November. We are now down to four candidates and one of them could very well guide this country for the next eight years. That means by the time our next President leaves the White House, Matthew will be leaving for college.

My hope for him, and for this country, is that the next eight years are filled with learning and leadership. Hard work and achievement. And that as the Boy Scout Law calls us to be, we are trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. If the leaders we choose in November can adhere to these ideals, there's not a whole lot they shouldn't be able to accomplish.

I know this. The President and Congressional class of 2032 are learning them.