A Difficult Journey Made Bearable
Last year’s national Boy Scout Jamboree held at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia was the scene of a dreadful accident. Four adult Scout leaders lost their lives when a tent pole came into contact with overhead electrical wires. The accident sent waves both inside and outside the Scouting community. A subsequent brush with several cases of heat exhaustion at the presidential address gave the Jamboree, and Scouting itself, more than its usual share of negative attention.
Media sources and individuals started up the usual brouhaha that is typical of these tragedies: questions were asked and accusations were made. There were a few voices that mourned the loss suffered by the families, but by and large the public attention was on the investigation. Did the Boy Scouts provide proper training to the leaders? Did the leaders flaunt safety regulations? Why was a contractor hired to erect the tent, which some sources called “highly unusual?” Why were the Boy Scouts, an organization that the ACLU has called a “discriminatory religious organization,” allowed on US Military property in the first place? Even Fox News was piling on with a story about a “disaster-riddled” event that highlighted the Boy Scouts’ general lack of preparedness.
In the end, the Army investigation concluded that the deaths were accidental and not the result of criminal malfeasance or neglect. And there the story ended, not with a bang, but with a wimper of quiet resignation.
And then I saw this letter to the editor in this month’s issue of Scouting Magazine, a monthly journal for Scouting volunteers.
July 25, 2005—the day Michael J. Shibe, my husband and the father to our sons (Eagle Scouts Brent and Neil and Eagle candidates Paul and Karl), was killed in an electrical accident at the 2005 National Scout Jamboree —was the first of many difficult days for us.
We are grateful to our friends in Scouting across the country for the many ways they rose to the occasion.
The salute at the jamboree by President Bush and other dignitaries, the BSA events held here in Alaska and in the rest of the country, and your individual prayers, messages of support, and generosity (from patches to cash gifts, quilts, photographs, and more) have helped to make this very difficult journey bearable.
Scouting helps to teach our youth how to manage life’s horrendous events with grace and dignity, and the response by troops and adult leaders from all over the country and around the world reminds me why the BSA is an organization so worthy of our involvement.
Kris Green (Shibe)
Anchorage, Alaska
Mrs. Shibe’s awesome tribute reminds me that we should never allow ourselves to be defined by the tragedies in our lives. It is our response to tragedy and sorrow that truly tells the world what we’re made of. Scouting is more than just a camping, hiking, and raising-boys-to-manhood organization. It is a community of the closest kind, and while we always practice charity and the giving of self to others, we never forget to take care of our own.
My thoughts and prayers are with the Shibe family, and my gratitude to God for making me a Scouter.
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I poo poo the news media as often as possible, since they callously trample on the feet of the helpless and down troden in order to get a story. The recent hunting accedent with vice presidend Dick Chenney is a typical model of how a story can be twisted to make a villian were none existed. I don’t care for the VP, but he took care of his friend by quikley getting him the medical attention he needed. Why would the media need to be alerted?
The attempt of the media to try to make the orginization of the Boy Scouts some kind of immoral body should be concidered criminal.
The Boy Scouts should take a great deal of pride in being villified by the media as that puts them in some of the best company in the world. Read the sermon on the mount. Jesus said “they hate me, they are going to hate you”