Order of the Arrow and Safeguarded Material
May 1915 Dr. E. Urner Goodman was selected as a summer camp director of Treasure Island. Dr. Goodman was a Scoutmaster from Philadelphia with plenty of expierence in Scout camping. Another man Carrol A. Edson, was appointed his assistant for camp. Between the two of them they decided to start, what became the Order of the Arrow, a program to honor older Scouts that best lived the ideals of the Scout Law and Oath. Their hope was also to keep older Scouts in the Scouting program for the benefit of the younger Scouts.
My earliest memory of Scouting is of an Order of the Arrow (OA) Ceremony that I wittnessed long before I was old enough to be a Boy Scout at a Spring Camporee in southern Oregon that my family attended for an evening while my father was a Scoutmaster in the late sixties. I was 6 or 7 at the time and I remember a huge bonfire lit with an arrow and what appeared to be Indians walking around pulling Boy Scouts to their feet and then after a few words leading them away. I was inspired! I wanted to be a part of this someday. Nearly a decade later as a young Scout myself I watched what was to be my second "call out" ceremony. I was attending a spring Camporee with Troop 832 in eastern New Mexico. At the time scouts that were members of the OA had really nice patches on their uniforms, as they still do, and were generally looked up to by all the scouts. I once again wanted to someday be a part of this. Several years down the road, still as a youth, I out of my own wanting to be in Boy Scouts recruited both scouts and leaders to keep a 50 year old Troop in Spokane, WA going. Through my efforts as a Senior Patrol Leader my fellow scouts elected me into the OA.
The OA is unique in the respect that non-members control who the membership is. Normally each year a Scout Troop (or Varsity Scout Team) has a unit election in which they can elect fellow scouts who meet certian requirements into the OA. Almost no one can set out to become a member of the OA, although that is precisely what I did in a way. For if it were not myself pestering our Scoutmaster at the time that we really needed to have an OA election one probabaly never would have occurred. That said there were other Scouts that also met the membership requirements and were at least as worthy as myself if not more so. Yet my fellow Scouts chose to honor me.
The next step in my journey was to be "called out" at that year's spring camporee, 1980. What I learned that night was what happened after the OA ceremony team led the OA candidates away on a hike. We were led to a very small campfire and heard a very short speech given by a scout dressed up in an indian costume about the Ordeal were would soon undertake if we chose and that our fellow Scouts had honored us by electing us.
Up to this point it had always been understood that when the OA was around so was silence. OA members never talked much about the OA activities or what may have taken place. There was amoung scouts that were not part of the OA a sense of wonderment and rumors about the OA. None of this was in any way bad it just was. Oa members were the older boys that worked at summer camp. Always looked up to usually have achived higher rank and boy did they know plenty about scoutcraft and camping skills.
In June of 1980 I went to my Ordeal at Camp Cowles noth of Spokane, Washington. We arrived on a Fiday evening and late Saturday evening in a ceremony were welcomed as fellow members in the Brotherhood of Honor Campers! I could type page upon page of all the wonderful things I expierenced and learned in that short 30 or so hours but I feel I am honor bound to not for fear that I might in some way reduce the expierence for any who are yet to be inducted into this great Brotherhood.
The OA uses indian themes and ceremonies in a very special and individual way. The expierence is a personal one for each Ordeal candidate. "Youth and adult candidates for membership into the Order of the Arrow are introduced to the Order's concepts of servant leadership through safeguarded ceremonial induction. Although the content of the ceremonies is private, the ceremonies were designed to avoid offending any religious belief and have received the approval of religious leaders.The ceremonies are consistant with Scouting traditions and the spirit of the Scout Oath and Law." from the Order of the Arrow Handbook 2006 edition. BSA Youth protection policy states that "there are no secret societies within the Boy Scouts of America." Both statements are not mutually exclusive! Many seem to have problems grasping this fact. The OA is not secret, even though our ceremonies are private and safeguarded. Any with legitimate reasons for wanting to know what they or anything else in or about the Order are given opportunity to get their questins answered. Parents, Clergy, or even Chartering Organizations are given controlled access to the ceremonies. The OA uses a sybolic progression to teach each candidate the principles of the Order. The element of surprise and the unknown helps to intensify and enrich the expierence.
To further explain the National Supply of the Boy Scouts of America has Ceremony pamphlets printed for the Arrowmen to use to ensure uniform and well run ceremonies. They are only availble for purchase by lodges through local Scout Councils and are tightly controlled. Straight form the national OA website:
Ceremony for the Ordeal #34993A, Revised 2000 This book provides the approved Pre-Ordeal and Ordeal ceremonies for lodges to use. Available from the BSA National Supply Division, must be ordered through your local council.
Ceremony for the Brotherhood #34994A, Revised 1999 This book provides the approved Brotherhood ceremony for lodges to use. Available from the BSA National Supply Division, must be ordered through your local cou ncil.
Ceremony for the Vigil Honor #34043A, Revised 1999 This book provides the approved Vigil ceremony for lodges to use. Available from the BSA National Supply Division, must be ordered through your local council.
Elsewhere you can find online resources dealing with the OA that are password protected so that only members with the proper membership knowledge can access them. More proof that although not exactly a secret society it is not without limits.
In my life as a Scout (youth) and a Scouter (adult) I have had the following positions of leadership: Patrol leader, Senior Patrol Leader, OA Dance team Chief (Lodge and Chapter), Chapter Chief, Webelos Den Leader, Cubmaster, Troop Committee, Troop Committee Chairman, and OA Chapter Advisor. I have attended numerous Adult training sessions, certified through on-line training enough to be able to wear the "trained" patch on my Uniform shirt, and attended an OA National Leadership Seminar as a Youth. Given my years of experience, hours upon hours of reading, research, and active participation in the program should convince you that I do in fact know what I'm talking about.
Lately I have been browsing the world wide web reading scout and OA information. I have even been keeping an eye on Ebay looking at the OA items up for auction. I have noticed several times that not everyone that has ever been a member of the OA feels as strongly as myself that safeguarding some things is serious. I have taken it upon myself to email several parties that were making either the elements of the ceremonies or the ceremony pamphlets available for general use. One such person is the owner of Streamwood.net. A small business person whose business is selling Scouting related items. I kindly asked this person to consider ensuring the safeguard while suggesting that they may still be able to make a profit on the sale of safeguarded material. The answer I received was utterly dismissive. it is my hope and prayer that through you reading this blog that you will also find this lack of respect distasteful and do whatever is in your power to stop this activity. I believe in free enterprise but I also believe in honor. For someone that takes profit from Scouting and yet chooses to profit at the expense and detriment of a program within the Scouting Movement is just dishonorable! Scouting is about character, citizenship, a belief in god, and physical fitness! Lord Bayden Powell's idea was to grow boys into men in an environment where leadership, service to fellow man, and good character was fostered. These same principals are still the foundation of the Scouting movement today.
The Order of the Arrow teaches and requires for continued membership a commitment of cheerful servant leadership of its members. It truly is an honor to be able to serve our fellow scouts and our community and take part in such a Brotherhood of cheerful service.
comments welcome via the contact link above
Created on ... June 07, 2007@copy M.W.Stripes
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