Mike Rowe: On Becoming an Eagle Scout
Posted in Mike Rowe, the host of the the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs”, answers a comment from a reader on the importance of becoming an Eagle Scout.
A viewer wrote:
Mike,
I’m not sure where I heard that you are an Eagle Scout, which brings me to my question. Could you PLEASE take a moment & post to my 13 year old son Kelby & encourage him to finish scouting (& anything else that’ll help with this?) Reason I’m asking is that he only lacks 1 1/2 – 2 years in reaching Eagle, but some of his buddies have got him to thinking scouting isn’t cool at his age.
Rowe starts his response:
Kelby,
Your Dad asked me to drop you a line and say something inspirational that might persuade you to dig down deep and find the determination to make the rank of Eagle Scout. It’s a reasonable request, from a father who obviously wants to see his son succeed. But here’s the thing – The Eagle Award is not really meant for people who need to be dragged across the finish line. It’s meant for a select few, and I have no idea if you have the guts to see it through.
You can read the rest of Rowe’s answer to this viewer on his blog.
Popularity: 14% [?]
Would have been better if it didn’t use the woefully inaccurate “one out of a hundred Scouts make Eagle” number.
Actually, I think the BSA’s number is the proportion of Scouts registered in a given year who earn Eagle, IN THAT YEAR. So according to that method, I would have been counted as a registered Scout who “didn’t earn Eagle” in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1987.