At the 2017 Boy Scouts of America National Jamboree, President Donald Trump gave a speech. True to himself this speech has gotten a lot of scrutiny. He had the opportunity to leave a lasting impression of hope and inspiration on these young minds, but instead the only thing being remembered is his arrogant account of how he won the election in November. I am not here to defend Trump's actions, but I am here to say that he did say some good things, some of which should be remembered.
Working with scouts for the past four summers, I will be the first to tell you they are some of the best people I have ever met. I have never felt so welcomed or accepted as I have here at camp. I have never met such hard workers, people willing to do anything to make a scout smile. These are the most dedicated group of people I know. This all being said I think it is appropriate to take a good look at the things Trump said. Trump began his speech by saying he was not going to talk about policy or what is going on in Washington, but this was not the case. I believe if he would have stuck to this thought, the reactions from the speech would be much more positive.
"...I'll tell you the reason I love this, and the reason to be here, it is because as president, I rely on former Boy Scouts every single day. And so do the American people. It's amazing how many Boy Scouts we have at the highest level of our great government. Many of my top advisers in the White House were Scouts." This paragraph was one that stood out to me the most. Here, President Trump is trying to show the scouts that with the skills and values they are learning from scouting, they too can do great things. But this thought was quickly forgotten when he began to make a comment about how the media would down play the number of people in the crowd and criticized fake news.
"Boy Scout values are American values. And great Boy Scouts become great, great Americans. (Applause) As the Scout law says, a scout is trustworthy, loyal -- we could use some more loyalty I will tell you that. (Crowd Chanting) That was very impressive. You've heard that before. But here you learn the rewards of hard work and perseverance, never, ever give up. Never quit. Persevere. Never, ever quit. You learn the satisfaction of building a roaring campfire, reaching a mountain summit or earning a merit badge after mastering a certain skill. There's no better feeling than an achievement that you've earned with your own sweat, tears, resolve, hard work. There's nothing like it. Do you agree with that?"
Once again this great point of how scouting turns you into a hard worker and how to appreciate what you have done, President Trump lost the impact he could have made by mentioning fake news.
"Through scouting you also learned to believe in yourself -- so important-- to have confidence in your ability and to take responsibility for your own life. When you face down new challenges -- and you will have plenty of them -- develop talents you never thought possible and lead your teammates through daring trials, you discover that you can handle anything. And you learn it by being a Scout. It's great. (Applause) You can do anything. You can be anything you want to be. But in order to succeed, you must find out what you love to do. You have to find your passion, no matter what they tell you." I believe this would have been the best way to end this speech, by igniting a spark inside the hearts of the scouts. Helping them know they can change the world and help make it a better place. But the speech did not end there he went on to speak about how President Obama was never at a Jamboree. Why does that matter. He should have taken the opportunity to inspire others and just do that, not criticize the events of the past.
President Trump then shared the story of William Levitt and how he built his company, which showed the scouts with hard work they can accomplish their goals.
The end of the speech is what left a sour taste in my mouth and of the rest of America. The election happened in November, it is now July. Eight months have past and still in every speech President Trump finds a way to bring up his upset victory. In my opinion there was no need to recount the events of November 8th. He broke his promise at the beginning of his speech of not bringing up politics. This was an event to bring together the youth of America and to inspire them, not to gloat. I think it is time for President Trump to ditch the arrogant attitude and begin working to unite America instead of further dividing it with events like this.
