From: xxx

Subject: Re: Don't Succomb to Scouter Burnout

re: "But nobody else will do it"

I, too, found out how untrue this is.

When I left NC last month several important things then became "leaderless". We had to cancel at least two events because there was no one else to do them.

Well... after the District Executive played dumb about having been told of my moving, the District Committee and some "concerned" Scouters got together and salvaged one of them. (Our District Merit Badge College).

The other remained cancelled. But since it was a fundraiser for the OA lodge run for 17 years by my chapter and the lodge had about £30,000 in the bank (!) I don't consider it to be a high priority. It was an event that "tradition" and not need dictated it being done.

In both cases, I failed miserably to have an able assistant -- "no one" was interested -- but once "no one" was doing it, help was immediately available.

I also went through this as a Scout. My Dad was SL for one of the Troops I belonged to. He commuted about 2½ hours each way to a job but could get little to no help because all the other parents either "had to commute to work" or were "too tired from their commute"! Well, Dad became ill and could no longer be SL. The Troop folded because of it. Amazingly (sarcasm intended) those who couldn't help restarted the Troop within the year!

The moral of all this is: If people care about what you are doing, they ‘will’ help, and perhaps if no one cares, then maybe it does not need to be done (like a fundraiser for a wealthy lodge!).