The Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card

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Don’t you just love second chances? Most people do. A good “do-over” lifts your soul and clears the conscience. Just look at sports.

Golf has the Mulligan. Basketball, the free-throw. Baseball, the foul ball. Soccer has the yellow card, while hockey has the penalty box. And in tennis you get two tries to serve the ball. In short, we humans are all about second chances.

My hope is that Saint Peter is, too.

You see, I believe that when a man dies he finds Saint Peter waiting for him at the pearly gates of Heaven. And as the chief bureaucrat in the universe, he’s of course waiting with paperwork. In this case it’s a lengthy and detailed checklist.

On this checklist are all the things by which men are judged. For instance, were you:

Respectful to your elders?  “Yes, sir.” Check.

Loving to your children? “Yes.” Check.

Kind to animals? “Oh yeah.” Check.

Did you love your wife? “You bet!” Check.

You’re scooting right along. “This is great! I’m almost home-free,” you think to yourself. Then Old Pete drops the hammer when he asks, “Scouting?”

Scouting? You furrow your brow and look at the floor like the little boy who got caught being naughty.

He stares at you. Stone-faced. You get the feeling this is the last guy you want to bluff in a poker game. He sees the sweat starting to build on your brow. He repeats the question.

“Were you a Boy Scout?”

Ah. The dreaded Boy Scout question. This is where it gets sticky.

Everybody knows that Scouting is on the side of the angels, and that while being a Boy Scout may not give you a free ticket into Heaven, it’ll surely help boost your score on Saint Peter’s test.

Then there’s me. I told you: this is where it gets sticky.

I wasn’t a Boy Scout. In fact, depending on who you talk to, the word on the street is that I got thrown out of Cubs Scouts. Twice. However, I maintain I got thrown out once and quit once. But let’s not split hairs. The truth is I didn’t even make it to Webelos.

Time for the “second-chance” strategy and a quick prayer.

My hope is that Saint Peter approaches his checklist much like states approach high-school diplomas.

While most people follow the tried-and-true traditional approach of attending high school and graduating with a diploma, that doesn’t work for everyone. That’s why there’s an alternative – the GED. The General Educational Development test allows someone who didn’t receive a high school diploma to take a test to prove they have the same knowledge and skills as a high-school graduate.

I’m betting (hoping and praying) that Saint Peter will follow a similar approach and allow me to bypass Boy Scouts and meet the requirement with an alternative I like to call the “Boy Scout Adult Leader Option.”

I spent 13 years as an adult Scout leader, following my son Sean from his first day as a young Tiger Cub, through his transition as a Tenderfoot into Boy Scouts, to that rare and happy day when he earned the coveted rank of Eagle Scout, and then his final transition into an adult leader.

Through that process I’ve lived through a dozen Pinewood Derbies and popcorn fundraisers, and spent countless nights camping in the rain, the mud and the snow. I’ve survived Murphy’s six-alarm chili, wild-game feasts and pancake dinners. I’ve camped where you can hear the bears in the underbrush, and I’ve snorkeled far too near passing sharks.

We adult Scout leaders have a code. Anytime the heat, the cold, the wet or bad attitudes would start to wear on us, we’d simply remind our compatriots that our service as adult leaders will earn us a punch on our “Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card." It always made us laugh and lifted our spirits. It also helped us focus on why we were there. The boys.

Adult Scout leaders volunteer their time and talent to help young boys grow into young men with a solid sense of right and wrong, honor and purpose. Life is tough for kids these days. Divorce, drugs, the Internet, social media and peer pressure have made the normally complicated adolescent years something close to a nightmare for many kids. Happily, Scouting is a safe refuge.

So, no matter the final score on my checklist. I’m proud to say I was a Boy Scout adult leader. I know in my heart it was worth it. And I think Saint Peter will agree it was a “do-over” he can endorse – and give me that final punch on my “Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card" and a check in the “Scouting” box on his checklist.

Thank God for “do-overs.” 

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