A Gimpse Into the Past
I found some footage of WW II air combat that was only recently discovered. The video is long so feel free to take just a peak. I find this type of footage extremely valuable because it’s educational. It’s not hyped up movie special effects.
I am a leader in my local Cub Scout Pack. My son is a Webelos (the usual rank of 4th graders). I chose to get involved in Scouting because I felt there were not enough positive male role models in my son’s life (and his friends too).
Yes, a boy might have a good coach for little league or Pop Warner football, but that role model is limited to a sport. Being a team player, respecting the coach, good sportsmanship are all important character traits.
But Scouting covers many more. Boys learn respect for national symbols like the flag, and the nation’s leaders. They learn reverence to whatever god they choose to worship. They are unified by a set of values (the Cub Scout Motto, Promise and Law) and by a spiffy uniform. They have the opportunity to explore many educational opportunities within the safety of the Pack organization.
Finally, they get positive male role models. Most leaders in our Pack are dads. Their guidance and instruction is fundemental to a boy’s development. My son has only female school teachers. The majority of Sunday School teachers at my church are also female.
There is nothing wrong with that. But the absence of a male role model is a serious problem. Boys learn from men. If that lesson is positive and contributes to society, great. If the lesson is destructive, bigotted, misoginistic, it obviously destroys society.
Margaret Mead observed long ago among various primative tribes in Samoa and New Guinea that if men had a positive well-defined role in the tribe, then the tribe prospered. If the men did not have a well-defined role, then their idleness led to all kinds of trouble including unecessary warefare, infidelity and child abuse. [Here’s a link to an article that explains Mead’s position in more detail.]
Men in the US are no different. We need more positive male role models in our society. How about you?
