We can teach principles of leadership, but we don’t learn leadership unless we live it. Leadership is more effectively taught with a hands-on application. It cannot come out of a book, but must be drawn like steel, slowly and repetitively; working out the errors through actual experiences; tempering them with the fire of adversity through the elements of nature, given responsibility, and with personal conflict and resolution; and finally, polished through sacrifice, service, and compassion.
Only then do the simple experiences of the outdoors become the proving grounds that these young men need to prepare them for the greater experiences that will one day some their way. That is what the Scouting program is all about. But it all starts with the Scout Oath: (Have Scouts rise and say the Scout Oath: On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.)
This is a excellent closing thought for a campfire , especially one involving Webelos Scouts or the scouts and their parents.
