Portrayal of America, Part II

Origin

The Boy Scouts is an old organization – established in America by the late William D. Boyce in 1910 after losing his way in the foggy streets of London one night. He stumbled upon a boy, who led him to his destination out of pure kindness. This boy was a member of the Scouting program, which was completely foreign and fascinating to Boyce. It had been established in 1907 by the war hero Robert Baden-Powell of Britain upon discovering that young boys were reading his military manual on the art of surviving in the outdoors. After altering the manual’s focus from military personnel to young men, he decided to bring a group of twenty-two boys together on a camping trek off the coast of England. The success of this adventure sparked the beginning of the Boy Scouts in England, and a simple good turn by a lone Boy Scout influenced the beginning of the program in America.

It was founded on the Boy Scout Oath – “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight” – the twelve points of the Scout Law – “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent” – and the belief in developing young men characterized by self-reliance, initiative, courage, and resourcefulness.

The Appalachian Trail

“Mr. Haywood is having a heart attack!” shouts Josh, one of the younger scouts, as he reaches the end of the trail. Yanked away from his moment of victory, Paul rushes to the boy.

“Mr. Reynolds is with him,” explains Josh, panting because he has been trying to catch up to the older Scouts for some time. “He couldn’t breathe, and he hardly started hiking before he had to stop. Mr. Reynolds put him in a sleeping bag, because he said he was going into shock. He already called 911 from his cell phone.”

Ten minutes later, an ambulance has arrived. Paul and Drew lead the paramedics down the mountain trail, leaving the next-ranked boys in charge. Paul cannot believe he’s traversing this six-mile stretch of trail again, and this time, at a break-neck pace. They are literally running down the mountain, both he and Drew, with the three EMTs struggling to keep up behind them.

Three miles down, Paul hears a gasp, a shuffling of feet. Someone is tripping and falling over. Turning around, he sees one of the paramedics tumble forward, bang his arm on a sharp rock, roll down the trail and fall off the edge, landing in a shallow stream. He cries out for help, and one of the two remaining paramedics goes to his aid. After assessing his comrade’s injury, he decides to take him back up the trail, due to a fractured elbow.

Now it is just Paul, Drew, and the remaining paramedic. They have three more miles to go, and their feet already burn so viciously the soles of their shoes could melt. But three miles later, they reach Mr. Reynolds, who sits by Mr. Haywood, pale in the face and wrapped in a sleeping bag. The paramedic takes over from here, and in little time, Mr. Reynolds and he are helping the man to his feet.

“I need you guys to go back up the trail ahead of us and let everyone know what’s going on, okay?” says the paramedic. Paul and Drew, feet throbbing, out of water and out of breath, nod and run up the mountain for the second time. By the end of the day, they have traversed this single six-mile portion of the Appalachian Trail three times, and Mr. Haywood is recovering from a heart attack in a nearby hospital. He survives the ordeal.