I have had this same situation. Treat it very carefully. After several
calls by the mother of this young man to the national office and them
refereeing them back to me... I requested a meeting with the boy and his
mom. I explained the GMA is more than running through a bunch of merits.
I asked the boy in front of his mom. Tie a bowline, do this do that...
he didn't know any of the basic things a boys should know if he is a GMA
candidate. He did work on some of these merits at home but rarely made
any outings. Many of the merits he claimed to have I had no record of
when I asked him when he did this step he had no recollection of it.
He was only about to turn 12 and in no way was a GMA. I told him if he
wanted the Medal that bad he cold buy it from GPH. However I wasn't for
sale and wouldn't sign off on it. He needed to mature and at least know
some of the basics. I strongly encouraged him to make some of the
outings and work on retaining some of these things he had learned. I
explained our Last GMA got his at 17....that was 5 years later than what
he and his mom were demanding. He left the outpost and chose to work at
McDonalds on Wed nights. It was his choice. I very much so encouraged
him to stick it out. He was young he had time and very likely could earn
this award.
Why we reduced the GMA to 12 I don't know. What is left after GMA for a
boy? Why must we push all this on a young man that has no seasoning? If
you take a board freshly cut and you don't let it season or adjust it
will warp and twist. I feel very strongly that this is also true for
young men. The numbers game is man's game. God's plan is for each one
of us. If we were bricks then line us up and get those numbers counted
up...but we are referred to stones each one a little bit different and
requires the masons hand to place us exactly where we need to go. My two
cents. Yours may vary.
Mark Jones
On Mon, 4 Mar 2002 09:13:39 -0500 [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> The Pioneer is moving up to Trailblazers soon. He is wearing 15
> merits on
> his chest, including Bible, Physical Fitness, Citizenship, etc. His
> Pioneer
> Commander Daddy says "He's just a couple of months from earning his
> GMA".
> But...
>
> You _know_ the requirements for many merits have been superficially
> adhered
> to at best.
>
> You _know_ that Mama and Daddy have been lenient in signing things
> off.
>
> You are _not_ the Senior Commander.
>
> You _are_ the Trailblazer commander.
>
> What do you do, if anything?
>
> Of course, this is PURELY a hypothetical situation! <G>
> _______
> Let the Golden Rule be your daily rule.
>
> Please pray for your list sponsor: http://eBible.org/mpj/
>
> To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe rangernet" to
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> or visit http://rangernet.org/subscribe.htm
> http://rangernet.org
>
Mark Jones, Ozark MO, [EMAIL PROTECTED] Download a Free Royal Ranger
Database visit my website at: http://home1.gte.net/mjones02/index.html
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