SCOUTMASTER’S MINUTE
June 5, 2006
Gary M. Louie, Scoutmaster, Troop 176
As you know, Father’s Day is coming up in less than two weeks! And I know that many of you may be going out to buy your Father’s Day gifts – neckties, slippers, sweaters, or maybe even a gift card from REI! Tonight, though, I would like to talk about a different type of Father’s Day gift – the kind that fathers give to their sons and daughters.
As some of you may know, my father passed away suddenly three years ago on May 31, 2003. Some of you here may have heard my Scoutmaster’s Minute at the COH two days after that when I shared with you that not only was he my father, but he was also my Scoutmaster when I was a scout in Troop 1 in Berkeley. I shared that he was the one who first got me interested in the outdoors. We went family camping and to Scout summer camp for several years together. He taught me not only scout skills, but about life - patience, working with different kinds of people, and how to love others. He was my main role model of what it meant to live out the Scout Oath and Law.
There are so many memories that I have of my dad. I remember:
Our many family vacations together –
- Camping at State parks – esp the time when it rained all night and our old canvas tent leaked so badly that we had to put our cookset pots all over the floor to catch the drips!
- Our trip to the 1964 World’s Fair in New York driving our 1960 Rambler station wagon across the U.S.!
- Playing shuffleboard and tennis together at Camp Gold – a UC summer camp in the Sierras.
- The time when we took his tennis partner’s son, Lance, with us on a 2 week vacation when his mom was battling cancer.
His beautiful tenor voice as he sang in the church choir, the same choir that he had been in since his Jr Hi school years in the 1930’s. (Actually the same choir that my wife’s mother was also in back in the 1930’s!)
- Being a church leader and seeing him in action resolving conflicts and bringing people who were at odds with each other together to build a consensus
- Seeing him wash the dishes, and wash and iron all his clothes to make things easier for my mom,
- Teaching me how to paint the house so the brush streaks didn’t show, how to wrap the brushes in foil when you took a lunch break, and how to clean the brushes afterward.
- Going to the cemetery every Sunday to visit my little sister’s grave site and hearing him pray – thanking God for the joy she brought our family even though she was only with us for two years.
- I remember him in his Scout uniform, standing at the front of the meeting with his Scout sign up, reciting the Scout Oath and Law. I didn’t know it at the time, but he must also have attended Wood Badge Training. After he passed away, my mom gave me part of his old uniform. With it was a small, gold, plastic Wood Badge neckerchief slide. I now wear it whenever I wear my Wood Badge neckerchief.
You know, I don’t remember many of the gifts he bought for me or the gifts I bought him. But I sure do remember the time we spent together – not just on vacations and trips, but in everyday life as well. And also the life lessons that he taught me.
Each of these memories is a gift that my dad gave to me, even though he may not have been aware of it at the time.
You know, scouts, someday, hopefully when you are a lot older many years from now - your dads will no longer be with you. The presents that you may have given each other will long be gone or put away. But the memories and life lessons that you shared will last forever!
Treasure the times you share with your fathers (and your mothers, too!). Even the everyday times! Treasure them as gifts given to you out of their love for you.
And parents, if you haven’t already done so, start building those memories with your sons and daughters now. I know from my own experience that life can be so busy that the day might end before we get to see them some nights. But, ten years from now, they probably won’t remember the I-Pods or computers you gave them as gifts.
Whether it is going on scout campouts together, family vacations, going to church on Sundays, or just ironing your shirts together, these are the things that truly count!
Happy Father’s Day!