Last Saturday, I went to the Baseline Community Church with our Boy Scout Troop to review skills we needed to know for the Camporee, which is where individual patrols from different troops compete against each other on knots, lashings, and other technical knowledge. I like going to Boy Scout meetings, but ropes are the part that I dislike the most.
After finishing the review of the last first aid skill (how to treat a rabid animal bite), we moved on to knots and lashings. Jacob, our patrol leader, led us to the grass outside the church. He pulled out six pieces of nylon rope from his bag and gave one to each of us. My main reason why I dislike this skill is because of the complicated turns, loops, and hitches that complete each knot and occupy a lot of brain cells. Since my memory is pretty bad , I usually forget the knots I learn fairly soon. The thin ropes are hard to control and always bite into my hands. As Jacob started to teach us a new knot, the bowline, my brain started to become fuzzy. But I concentrated hard, for I knew knots and lashings is one requirement in becoming a Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and eventually, Eagle Scout. I also understood how important ropes are, because they are part of setting up a tent, building a bridge or signal tower, pulling logs and many other things. These thoughts became stronger, and pierced through the fogginess that clouded my brain and it started working properly.
Soon, my brain started to cloud again. I looked around at the other scouts, who seem to be engrossed with the knots and were showing no sign of dislike at all. I didn’t want to be the only scout that disliked ropes, so I forced myself to continue pretending. It was all going pretty smoothly, until Jacob started teaching us a super complicated knot, the taut-line hitch. I knew I couldn’t disguise my feelings any longer, so at first I thought I could go to the restroom to skip this knot, but Jacob stopped me by saying, “This is an important knot, because you will be using it to build a tent.” I was smart enough to stay, for I knew this was a crucial hitch in the Scouting skills.
Once again, I got myself boosted up by thinking about the Camporee competition, because the theme was ”Knowing the Ropes.” It would be a shame if I made the patrol lose when the inspectors at camp asked me a knot that I didn’t know. So I continued doing the knots and lashings, filling my mind with the other fun activities at the Camporee, which really helped me disguise my true feelings.
I don’t know whether I will like ropes in the future, but I really don’t have any passion for them right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment