“You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”
– Robert Fulghum
Years ago, my oldest son joined Cub Scouts. Pack 50 was part of Mark Twain Elementary and was well established in the area. Great opportunity for him to learn from these boys and enjoy all that scouting offered. Plus, I was a scout and was excited to share experiences as I did as a boy. This pack had one problem though…all the leaders were “graduating” after this year as their sons were moving into Boy Scouts. A few families were staying, and some of them had held leadership roles in the past, but they were not interested in staying on in those roles. What was going to become of these new scouts and this historic pack (it had been around for over 50 years)?
After talking to a couple of the other dads that were graduating, I agreed to take on the leadership of the pack. It was not a role that I had planned on taking and was not sure if I could handle it. Fortunately, I did have some experience with scouting and I had some assistance from the past leaders. We muddled through the next year, and then the next (when my younger son joined) and so on. This went on for seven years. I even stayed on for one year after my last son graduated out of Cub Scouting. It was not always the easiest task to keep this pack going. We never had a large number of scouts and the families kinda came and went. However, we did keep the pack going and a couple of the boys stayed with us through all the ups-and-downs.
Looking back, I am happy that I took on this pack. Had I not, I know that the Pack would have dissolved. My sons were able to experience scouting and I was able to share it with them. My boys still talk about activities that we did during scouting. I was part of other family’s lives and experiences. I hope that some of what I showed them will stay with as they grow older and have scouts of their own as well. I saved a pack that was around longer than I was. It is still active today (four years after I passed
the baton) and has grown stronger in the years. I am happy that even more boys are sharing in scouting with the pack that I was part of.
Was I important? I like to think so. I will have to ask some of the scouts when I see them next.
Average Fadre 
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