Boy Scouts of America: Be Prepared to Find a Way to Care

“Scouting for All Rally” in Front of Boy Scouts Headquarters, 1207 Upas St. at 11:00 on 10/13/13

By Ernie McCray

Oh, if the Boy Scouts of America
could just begin to understand
how much better the quality of life
could be in this land
if they would just completely
put aside their homophobe-ary
and recognize the humanity
of folks who are LGBT,
folks who add to and enrich our diversity –
if they would just embrace all of them,
even those who are older than eighteen,
the age at which gay boys can still be dismissed
as no longer being worthy of boy scout membership.
It’s way past time they
began treating
all human beings with respect
and decency.
They could play a vital role
in our evolution as U.S. citizens,
at this stage in our history
because so many of the biases
and misconceptions about some folks
in our society
that exist
and persist
in our ways of thinking
are due
plainly and simply
to our collective ignorance,
our downright stupidity,
at times,
as a nation.
Jay Leno
asks the simplest questions
about our world and gets way to many an
“I dunno”
on the Jaywalking segment on his show.
We sing
“God Bless America”
in the 7th inning,
while drones shoot down children today
and yesterday we sang
about our “home sweet home”
while, in our name,
a president overstepped Congress
who, alone, has the authority
to declare war
and sent our kids
faraway to create
“Shock and Awe!”
Rather than asking for a blessing
shouldn’t we have been asking for forgiveness
down on our knees?
Please.
It must be stupidity,
or, at least a portly
lack of empathy
and sympathy
that has us asking for a power that is heavenly
to stand “beside” us an “guide” us
“thru the night with a light from above”
when we offer the world very little love
of any consequence.
So hence it must likewise be some form of brainlessness:

for a people to sit like puppets
when the rich enjoy tax breaks
paid for by what used to be our Social Security;
to have any single American
ranting and raving about the validity
of a president’s birth certificate
when the document can be seen
at the speed of a click
throughout the world in its entirety;
for folks to be angry at a man who,
from the time he took office,
up to now, still,
fights tooth and nail
to provide them insurance
for their protection when they are ill.
Oh, we ignore the truth
as though it will kill
and throw our hands in the air
like we truly just don’t care
and not giving a damn intentionally
has to be the epitome
of our folly.
But there are some things that are considered
sacred in this “The Land of the Free.”

The Boy Scouts of America fall in that category.
It’s revered.
Cheered.
It’s iconic.
It’s seared in Americana
like instructions and suggestions
in a hypnotized mind.
It’s time
they entertained notions that are sublime.
They have the power to sway
our thinking,
the way we look at things.
They could make our hearts sing
with love
If they chose not to tease us
with sleight of hand gestures of being more open,
and showed us the way to enlightenment,
a way to keep us from giving into our fears,
a way to give those who are discriminated against
reason to wipe away their tears,
a way to becoming more
accepting and kind.
If they completely changed
their anti-gay discriminatory policy
the most homophobic of our citizenry
would eventually,
over time, fall in line.
And there would be less moments
that lesbians would have to hear
“You just haven’t met the right guy yet.”
Soon a bisexual would no longer be met
with “You’re just confused, just pick a side.”
Gay men
wouldn’t hear as much talk
about how being gay is a sin
and LGBT youth
would not have to hear
“You’ll grow out of this ‘gay’ thing
when you get older.”
And they would face life
in a bolder fashion.

All it would take for the BSA
to open their arms to
gay boys and their families
is compassion
with a little passion –
and We the People
would feel the vibrations
and sensations
that would come
from such a powerful declaration
of inclusivity
and seek more profound definitions
for notions like the
American Way.
To the world
what would that say?

They need to
“Be prepared”
to find a way to care
so we as a country can be known
for how much we care.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/5223935581/in/photostream/