Scouting shaped me in countless ways. But there’s one lesson that has stuck with me more than all the rest—one I’ve shared with others more times than I can count. Let me give you a little background.

Serving as a camp counsellor for four summers, I guided Scouts to earn merit badges in Camping, Hiking, Cooking, Orienteering, and Wilderness Survival. 

Scouts had various types and levels of motivation for completing their badges. Some needed a specific badge to achieve their next rank. Some were competitive collectors of merit badges, even if they cared little about the substance of the badge requirements. A rare few were genuinely interested in the subject matter.

One day, Rusty, my dear mentor and boss, pulled me aside. He saw me getting frustrated with a Scout who showed no interest in actually learning what he needed for his Cooking merit badge. He gently asked me, “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink?'”

He impressed upon me that I couldn’t teach a Scout more than he was motivated to learn. 

“But, if we wait for them to be motivated,” I bemoaned, “most Scouts will go home without a single merit badge.”

“They just may,” Rusty acknowledged, “And we can also help them discover their motivation.”

“How do we do that?”

“Under the right circumstances,” Rusty said slyly as he raised one eyebrow, “a Scout urgently needs each of the lessons of a merit badge. When he’s hungry, he wants to build a fire and prepare a meal. When it’s about to rain cats and dogs, he wants to get his tent set up in a hurry.”