In a Complex World, Heroes Still Matter

The letter was addressed to colleague Joel Lugavere. It had nothing to do with his work as a photographer. Rather, this correspondence, dated May 6 of this year, related to his duties as the leader of Cub Scout Pack 246 in West Hills.

Dear Mr. Lugavere,

Congratulations to your Cub Scouts for their Arrow of Light Award.

I am sorry to inform you, however, that we will be unable to issue a Resolution or Certificate as it is our office policy to issue those only to organizations which have policies of non-discrimination with respect to race, religion, sexual orientation and all of the other bases enumerated in the California Government Code.

Thank you for your interest.

The letter was signed by state Senator Tom Hayden.

*

Being a Boy Scout isn’t easy these days. There’s all those knots to learn and that demanding code of behavior: To be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Even a boy understands such values may collide. If a panhandler asks for a quarter, do you practice thrift or remember this phrase from the Scout Oath: “To help other people at all times”?

And for the teen-age Scout, challenges from such quarters as the women’s movement, gay activists and atheists are but a sideshow to the real issue.

What do your classmates think?

“Some people think it’s kind of nerdy,” said Glenn Highcove, a 17-year-old junior at Taft High School, explaining why he doesn’t wear his khaki-and-olive Scout uniform to school. But at the same time, Glenn isn’t embarrassed to say he’s a Scout: “Some people think it’s kind of neat. People know if you are a Boy Scout, they can trust you. You’re dependable.”

It was an appropriate evening for reflection. Glenn and his fellow Scouts in Troop 504 had gathered with parents and Scouting friends in the auditorium at Calvert Street Elementary School in Woodland Hills to remember the late Scoutmaster Milt Samuels, a local legend who died last month. A large portrait of Milt, as a handsome, clean-cut Eagle Scout at age 17 in 1937, was displayed on the stage as friends read testimonials and the young charges led the assembly--perhaps 150 strong--in a campfire song.

Too bad you didn’t get a chance to meet him, folks said. Milt, they said, epitomized the values, and the dedication, that is expected of good Scouts.

He joined the Scouts in 1931 at age 11 and, after achieving Eagle status, didn’t return until years later when his son, Bruce, volunteered him to serve as a Cubmaster. He took on other roles after that, but he never left Scouting. Bruce was his first Eagle, in 1970, and in the 23 years that followed, Milt Samuels guided 34 other boys to Scouting’s highest honor. Several attended the tribute, joining Bruce on stage for an “Eagle’s Nest” in Milt’s honor.

Norman Rockwell would have loved this gathering. Like his 15-year-old son, Joshua, Assistant Scoutmaster Avrom Z. Solomin wore his Scout uniform for the occasion. Solomin, an engineering manager for Lockheed, recalled Joshua’s comments about Milt in his Bar Mitzvah speech two years ago. Joshua had spoken of how, “especially in Milt’s troop, Scouting teaches us how to live with people on the highest moral and ethical level.”

An anthropologist from another galaxy would have figured that, with all its uniforms, badges, creeds and rituals, Scouting is a subculture unto itself. But as one Cub Scout mother explained, you don’t have to endorse all of the rules established by the national leadership to think that Scouting is good for boys.

In a world that seems increasingly coarse and combative, in a society rich with lousy role models, Milt Samuels was remembered for epitomizing all the gentlemanly virtues of Scouting.

To Avrom Solomin: “Milt Samuels was like a father figure to us all. A kind, benevolent person who cared. He wanted everyone to succeed.”

And though Milt was a traditionalist, he could see within the Scout Law and Oath the capacity to change some of his old-fashioned ways.

Dee Shepard Look, a professor of psychology at Cal State Northridge, recalled that Milt was “diametrically opposed” to the selection that made her the first chairwoman of a Boy Scout district in the region. Milt, she said, was “from the old school” and believed that women had no place in Scouting.

But his attitude softened, Look recalled. In time, Milt did Look the honor of inviting her to speak at a ceremony for one of his Eagles.

“The thing I respected most is that he was an open-minded person,” Look said. “He was there to learn what he could learn, and that’s what kept him young.”

*

Joel Lugavere never showed his Scouts the letter from Tom Hayden. Why bother? They were proud to see all the other letters of congratulations he’d solicited for the boys from Vice President Al Gore, Gov. Pete Wilson, Sens. Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. They were thrilled with the scrolls from Mayor Tom Bradley, Supervisor Mike Antonovich and then-Councilwoman Joy Picus.

“We’re talking about 10-year-old kids,” Joel says.

So why, he asks, must politics always intrude? He wonders why Hayden couldn’t have just said congratulations, boys. Way to go. Job well done. Keep up the good work.

And just leave it at that.