Times Have Changed

Years ago while walking through an airport I purchased a copy of Rolling Stone magazine which featured a young, female singer I had never heard of before. As it turns out it the singer was Britney Rehab Spears and it was the same day I noticed that I was clearly an old man since I felt completely out of the loop.

Now at age 42 I recently had my second, "0kay I am clearly getting old now........." moment this past Friday night when I participated in my first Eagle Scout Board of Review (BOR) for the local Boy Scouts of America here in Minnesota. The BOR is the last stage in approval for a Boy Scout to receive Scouting's highest honor -- the Eagle Scout award. Statistics show that only about 3% of all Boy Scouts achieve the Eagle rank.

One element of the BOR is a discussion of the Boy Scout's "service project" required for the Eagle award. Our scout that evening had organized and managed a city park landscaping project. However, while reviewing his paperwork the thing that caught my attention was the "liability waiver form" that he had all volunteers for this project sign.

My own Eagle Scout service project was completed nearly 30 years ago but I can clearly remember that we did not have everyone sign liability waiver forms. My goodness today's world has changed - for the worse in this case since society is so lawsuit prone.

The one positive thing is that today's young men still strive to achieve the Eagle Scout award which has been earned by some great Americans who recently passed away -- former USA President Gerald Ford and explorer Steve Fossett.

They will be missed,

Todd