Life lessons

Our troop went on nine or 10 weekend outings a year, plus one or two weeks at summer camp (on Catalina Island; we were extremely lucky to have that available to us), and nearly all of those trips involved backpacking to and from the campground. When you have to carry everything — tent, sleeping bag, food, water, toiletries, and such — on your back for several miles, you feel the weight of each and every item as you plod along. Soon you find yourself reconsidering the need for everything you brought. Some items, like water, clearly are essential. But others — that metal mess kit, for instance — could, depending upon what you’ll be eating, be replaced by plastic or even paper plates and cups. And although a change of underwear and socks is worth the weight, surely you can wear your pants and shirt for another day … .

Packing light is something I do to this day, especially when flying. But the Boy Scout motto is “Be Prepared,” and before traveling I think about what I’ll be doing, and pack everything I’ll need. When not traveling, as best I can I prepare for whatever life might throw my way. For instance, here there is always the possibility of a major earthquake. Accordingly, my wife and I assembled a fairly extensive “disaster kit” that, if the worst comes to pass, should enable us to survive for a week or so in our backyard. Or, while driving our Meals on Wheels route one day we pulled over after seeing someone fall on the sidewalk, and quickly realized that we weren’t terribly well equipped to give proper first aid. We made do that day with what we had (and of course immediately called 911), but later put together a first aid kit that now permanently resides in our car.

At least when I was involved, Scouting had a good leadership training program that I made sure to take advantage of. While I learned a lot of interesting techniques, perhaps the most important thing I learned is my personal leadership style. I found that I am not a “give orders and expect them to be obeyed” kind of person, but instead need to lead by example. That knowledge proved invaluable on many occasions, whether I was the leader of a scout patrol or the manager of a team of employees during my long career in tech.

Perhaps two of the most valuable lessons I learned from my scouting days were “leave no trace” and “leave things better than you found them.” We always applied these rules while hiking and camping, but even today I keep both in mind as I go about my daily life. As scouts, we stuck to the trails while hiking, and tried hard not to damage plants, rock formations and the like. While in camp we did the same, and if we needed to alter the scene in any way — for instance, if we built a fire ring out of local rocks — before we left we scattered the rocks about and buried the remains of the (thoroughly extinguished) fire, leaving little sign the fire had ever existed. We made sure to take out everything we brought in, including all trash we had created while camping, but in an effort to leave things better, we went beyond. After we’d packed up, but before we hiked out, the entire troop lined up side-by-side at arm’s length and slowly made multiple passes through the camp, picking up every bit of man-made material we found — whether it originated with us or not. We invariably left our campsite cleaner and better than we found it. Which is a lesson that we can — and, frankly, should — all apply wherever we go.

Some consider being called a “boy scout” to be an insult, and Scouting’s reputation has certainly taken a hit the last several years, but I’m proud to say that I was a scout. While I never attained the Eagle rank, I did attain the level just below —“Life” — and I learned a great deal along the way. The many lessons I learned while I was a scout form a key part of who I am today, and I can’t imagine who I’d be without them.

Greg Wilson is the creator of Walking Redwood City, a blog inspired by his walks throughout Redwood City and adjacent communities. He can be reached at greg@walkingRedwoodCity.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @walkingRWC.