An Eagle Charge

Our Scoutmaster has given me the high privilege of delivering the Eagle Charge this evening. I am only too glad to do so.

What exactly is a "charge"? No, I am not talking about Pickett's Charge or your plastic credit card. A charge in tonight's context is a "solemn encouragement to make good on a commitment, vow or oath". You may receive a charge as a newlywed, a pastor or a politician. An audience or congregation may also receive a charge in a given situation.

My charge to you young men this evening is about AUTHENTICITY. What does it mean to be AUTHENTIC?

I have here in my hand a piece of beautiful jewelry brought back from New Mexico by my son for his mother - I assume and hope it is AUTHENTIC. How could I know for sure? Well, I could take it to a jeweler, who could AUTHENTICATE that the materials are quality, that the handiwork is sound, that the piece is in fact, the REAL DEAL.

In a similar way, the challenge for you young men is view your accomplishment this evening as a beginning and not an end , and to AUTHENTICATE what you are being recognized for - how? By living AUTHENTIC lives!!

The Scout Oath and Law are to remain the bedrock of your character - these values are not to be abandoned now that you have this award. To do so would be INAUTHENTIC...fake, or hypocritical. Instead, I challenge you men to show these values to be what they really are - timeless truths that are vitally needed for a civil and just society, and equally important for relationships in such a society, be they in the family, workplace, school or community. The world is crying out for these values, desperately in need of people who would be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent; people who would pledge their honor, understand duty to the God who made them and the country of which they are citizens, who would attend to their physical, mental and moral condition - in a word, people who would live AUTHENTIC lives.

Will you young men do that? Will you live lives of AUTHENTICITY? I and the others in this room trust you will.

How about you other Scouts? Well the charge is for you also, for you have pledged yourselves to this same Oath and Law.

And now a charge for friends and family of these young men: Let us support them in their quest to live AUTHENTIC lives, for to do so is not easy in our culture. The values of Scouting are ridiculed by many; these young men are essentially " swimming upstream".

And they will not live such lives perfectly - they will fall, and we must forgive them, help them to their feet and encourage them to continue to act in accord with who they are - AUTHENTIC Eagle Scouts!

Used by permission, edited for security.