Good morning,
It was a good weekend for the world to keep on spinning, with rapture confined to an excellent morning working on the emergency prep merit badge, performing as ‘victim’s’ during during emergency training at a local fitness center, and an afternoon honoring T648’s 34th Eagle Scout, Mr. T. Zahnow! As we look ahead, school may be almost out, but troop activities just keep on truckin’.  We have 6PM new scout tenderfoot training and the 7PM troop meeting tomorrow, an event on May 28th that continues to move me every time I participate, this weekend’s flagpin fundraising opportunities, a June 4th visit to the zoo with Mr. Butler to discover native Sonoran animals, a Court of Honor and our June canoe outing.
A brief commercial on the May 28th event. Every year on the Saturday before Memorial Day, a large group of volunteers, most of them scouts and scouters, join together early in the morning at the National Memorial Cemetary off the 101 freeway at Pinnacle Peak and Cave Creek Roads. This site contains over 50,000 veteran gravesites, and every year there is an event in which participants arrive between 0630 and 0700 to honor our veterans.  The morning begins with hundreds of scouts, scout leaders and families gathered in the cool air for a brief ceremony and reflection, and then begins the work. At 0705 hole punchers and bundles of American flags are distributed, and the crowd fanned out. I’ve often felt that from 30,000 feet, the event must look like an ant farm or a bee hive with the swarm intent upon covering every inch of their workplace without rushing, but respectful, relentless efficiency.  By 0800, every grave has two feet worth of American Flag waving smartly in the wind, in time for our national anthem and taps to solemnly be played. As I depart, it gives me chills to see the sea of waving red white and blue, and I silently give thanks for the millions who have fought to keep us free. Then I gratefully head out into the still early morning, and enjoy a hearty breakfast with my family, while discussing all that we have seen and experienced.Â
Good luck with finals! See you tomorrow night!
Mr. Cole