Character Counts and the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Awards Breakfast

Photos by Rochelle Ray

Bruce Hopper's remarks continued:

intolerance did not seep through our walls because I lived in an intrepid home of a Scoutmaster and his wife. Children Notice.

My parents abided by simple principles of love, responsibility, respect, and acceptance of the dignity bestowed upon the fallibility of humans, along with a measured faith that God would guide them.    International travelers shared with us their culture and experiences as we celebrated commonality and the universal quality of uniqueness. We shared our family, warts and all, to broken down souls who were then enlightened as to their own “Potential” and the solemn duty to utilize it. What Baden Powell, the founder of the Boy Scout movement, said was “to take care of and develop as a sacred trust those talents which God has equipped us for our passage through our life”. This accountability and a challenge to Do Your Best is what Children Notice. This moment is a continuation of what my Boy Scout Camp Director parents started. My mother LaVerne is here from Ohio.

This way of living, to me, is the very essence of being a Good Scout. Baden Powell wrote in 1944 in his Aids to Scoutmastership (incidentally a book that I inherited from my Dad) that “Scouting is a Brotherhood – a scheme which, in practice, disregards differences of class, creed, country and colour, through the undefinable spirit that pervades it – the spirit of God’s gentleman”. He stressed that the essential element of how we teach these Timeless Values is by example. Abide by the Scout Oath courageously, honorably, and dutifully because Children Notice.      

So I told my wife, a Scout leader herself, that I was getting a Scout Character Award. She said, “Well, you certainly are that.” My family of characters attended President Obama’s Inauguration and as part of our trip we worshipped at an inner city church. My children received the inverted gift of minority status by virtue of their skin color. They were slightly embarrassed by their initial feelings of unease, “how do I act, people will stare”. Talk about a teachable moment. I said, good, embrace, Notice if you will, those feelings of loneliness, fear and anxiety. The wonderful outcome of that experience was, “Dad I want to go a church like that”, empathy and something more. You see, when the time came, it didn’t matter either to my children or those around them, differences of skin or socioeconomic status, but that they collectively were celebrating something much bigger than themselves.

This year we are collectively celebrating the 100^th anniversary of Scouting. Our challenge for the next centennial is to serve all American families, and I mean that in the broadest of terms. This I know, Life can beat you to death if you’re not prepared. Be Prepared means fostering leadership and survival skills (beyond just the outdoors) by empowering self enlightenment essential for communal living. Doing that Good Turn Daily so that we may all survive: saying please and thank you, helping your 3^rd grade classmate with homework, we survive by playing music or singing to an elderly shut-in, finding healthy alternatives to gangs, helping your college roommate deal with substance abuse or thoughts of suicide, we survive by bridging cultural divides, working hard at your relationships, working even harder at being a parent, having visitors at your death bed hoping to be infected by the Scouting Spirit. Children do Notice.

I want to leave you with the words of Whitney Young. He said, “I am not anxious to be the loudest voice or the most popular. But I would like to think that at a crucial moment, I was an effective voice of the voiceless, an effective hope of the hopeless.” Ladies and gentlemen, Life is full of crucial moments. My prayer to all of you is that God may grant us the dignity, the grace and the strength to lovingly act during those crucial moments, because Children Notice.

Bruce Hopper is an attorney with Hopper & Associates, a member of the Mohegan Council Board of Directors, Quinsigamond District Commissioner, and a registered Scouter working in a number of capacities with the youth served by the Mohegan Council.

2010 Character Counts Awards

In 1997, the Executive Board of the Mohegan Council, Inc., Boy Scouts of America created the Character Counts Award to honor individuals in the Greater Worcester community who exemplify outstanding character through their service to their community and youth as positive role models. Additionally, recipients must espouse the ideals contained in the Scout Oath and Law. We are proud to recognize John G. O'Brien (right), President & CEO of UMass Memorial Hospital and Kevin O'Sullivan (left), President & CEO of Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives as the 2010 Character Counts award recipients.

Established by the National   Council of the Boy Scouts of America in 1978 this recognition is named for the late Whitney M. Young, Jr.— civil rights spokesman and Executive Director of the Urban League from 1961—1971.

In a speech delivered at the 58th National Annual Meeting of the B.S.A., Whitney M. Young, Jr. challenged Scouting's leaders to tackle the "unfinished task of making real the dream of justice and equality" for American youngsters. Soon afterward, he was chosen by President Lyndon B. Johnson to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation’s highest civilian award.

In honor of Whitney M. Young, Jr. this national award is used by councils to recognize outstanding service by an adult individual or by an organization in the development of Scouting for rural or low-income urban youth. Sometimes this award helps councils    recognize "unsung heroes"—people who might not otherwise   receive recognition for exceptional service to disadvantaged youth.

Nominations for the award are made within a local council and are approved by a local committee as well as a national selection   committee. We are proud to honor attorney Bruce E. Hopper with the Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award.