Due to COVID-19 restrictions, and the policies put forth by the national BSA and Northern Star Council, we will have to cancel our June Trip on the Superior Hiking Trail. Perhaps we can dial something up later this fall - maybe a longer weekend?
At this point, not only would we need to keep our group less than 10, but without support from the BSA there is too much liability to take on for any adult to lead a group in an extreme backcountry environment. That said, most of the SHT is great for day hikes or even short overnighted. Take your family!!!
I know all these cancellations are a drag but keep in mind a bit of perspective and history. In 1935, the VERY FIRST National Jamboree of the Boy Scouts of America, which was planned to celebrate the young organization's 25th anniversary, was canceled due to an outbreak of a highly contagious virus, polio.
At the time it was cancelled, entire troops were already en route to the nation's capitol by train (a multi-day journey for many), and many had to turn around and head straight back home.
Now, I am happy to be corrected if I am being inaccurate, but looking through the historical records of this event I'm not able to locate any instances of people portending from this unfortunate event the "end of Scouting," nor was I able to find any leader from this era implying that the organization had gone soft or anything of that sort.
The Scouts and Scouters of 1935 took it in stride, made the sacrifices that were necessary cheerfully and with Scout Spirit, and two years later in 1937 gathered for the rescheduled Jamboree when it was safe to do so. That's how the Scouts in 1935 handled it.
For a bit more of a humbling perspective at this moment, imagine the things you would have overcome if you were born in 1900. When you are 11 your join the newly formed Boy Scouts of America, when you're 14, World War I starts and ends on your 18th birthday with 22 million people killed. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until you are 20. Fifty million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.
When you're 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.
When you're 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts, and five million perish.
Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.
At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict.
As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85-year-old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great or great great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.
Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, let’s follow our Scout Law and we will get through all of this.
When you're 29, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, global GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy. When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.
When you're 41, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war and the Holocaust kills six million. At 52, the Korean War starts, and five million perish.
Approaching your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, could well have ended. Great leaders prevented that from happening.
At 64 the Vietnam War begins, and it doesn’t end for many years. Four million people die in that conflict.
As you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends. Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How do you survive all of that? A kid in 1985 didn’t think their 85-year-old grandparent understood how hard school was. Yet those grandparents (and now great or great great grandparents) survived through everything listed above.
Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Let’s be smart, help each other out, let’s follow our Scout Law and we will get through all of this.
In the history of the world, there has never been a storm that lasted. While our future will be forever altered by COVID-19, just as futures were changed by all of the events listed above, we’ll get through this - and we’ll do it by following the Scout Law and supporting each other.
