My Boy Scout Summer: Order of the Arrow

We all sat facing the campfire.  We'd been told not to look out into the woods.  Despite being teenagers, we were all quiet.  We knew they were out there in the dark, stalking about, watching us, making choices.  We were afraid to be selected and afraid not be selected.  The Order of the Arrow was the part of the Boy Scouts, but it was also a different organization entirely.  Most of all it was secret.  The ceremonies, the activities, the purpose - all secret.  You are sworn to never reveal that which is done or the manner in which it happens.  Like all secret organizations, it's unreasonably appealing.  I wanted to be part of it even if I had no idea what it was.

Rule #1 about secret organizations - - - they aren't worth it.

The boy next to me said, "Ow, Shit that hurts" and I knew he'd been selected.   Then I got smacked in the shoulder with what must have been a tree branch.  It did hurt.  Maybe it was a tree trunk.  I'd been tapped out.

Then I was running through the woods trying to keep up with a couple guys in their underwear.  Yeah, you heard me. 

Oh, no.  They were wearing loincloths and were wearing warpaint.  Yes, they had bandannas with feathers.  So, I'm chasing white boys dressed like Hollywood Indians through the woods in the middle of the night because someone smacked me in the shoulder with a tree.

Then the five boys with shoulder bruises were standing around an unlit campfire while an Indian Chief repeated Masonic ritual rites.  No, I'm not kidding.  The Indian Chief was another white boy wearing the dime store version of a Sioux war bonnet and he was making us five repeat grave promises of loyalty and secrecy.  Then we stripped down to our underwear . . .

Have you noticed that My Boy Scout Summer involved me in my underwear a lot?  I just noticed it myself.

and we were left to survive the night alone in the woods, led to some random spot blindfolded.  In our underwear we had to prove that we could survive out in the wild.  I'm sure it would've been harder before us Europeans ensured that all predators were eliminated.

Cold

Tired

Hungry

A day and a half later we're retrieved and brought to the campfire again.  This time we're awarded the honor of Order of the Arrow, an organization using the trappings of Native America and the theater of the Masons - handshakes, pyramids, symbols, etc.  We took on caricatures of Indian names and then lit the fire that was set in a triangular pattern.

Of everything I did in My Boy Scout Summer, this is the one thing I regret.  The one thing I'd like a do over for. 

I was in an organization that wouldn't allow American Indian youths admittance for more than half a century, participating in what I can only describe as a mockery of those very civilizations that white Americans had attempted to extinguish from the face of the earth.  What McDonald's is to food is what the Order of the Arrow was to Native American ceremonies.

To tell you the truth, we never really did much in Order of the Arrow.  I met with them five or six more times and all we did was try to teach each other what it would take to survive in the forest.  I'd think surviving in the Suburbs would be more valuable training - how to hitch a ride, where to find food, how to read expressions so as to know who is susceptible to a good scam.  Maybe I could make my own organization - riffing on a theme, if you will.

Middle class small town boys teaching each other how to survive in the forest.  What could we possibly know about that?  And when would we ever need that information?  Almost nothing I learned in scouts was useful in Survival School at Fairchild when I was in the military. 

Do I feel bad about it?  Yes.  Because we mocked important religious rituals and a deeply ingrained traditional lifestyle.  Is this 'white guilt?'  Yes.  I suppose it is.  Fact of the matter is that no matter the whats, whys, and who's of the Western Expansion, we Euro-Americans won all the wars and crushed our 'enemies' convincingly.  We won, so we took their land and made it ours.  But just like winning at anything, I don't believe it's right to rub other people's noses in it.  I don't think it's good to brag.  I don't believe it's good to be a poor winner.  I think it's decent and right to be generous and respectful.  I wish we had been. 

I know this post isn't as funny as the rest of My Boy Scout Summer, but let me end it on a high note.

Chief Whatever His Name Was awarded us admittance into the Order of the Arrow and then tried to light the ceremonial fire.  Several times.  In several ways.  Then the drugstore Indian Chief got a container of lighter fluid out of a Rubbermaid cooler and doused his triangular pile of sticks.  Then he lit it and a big whoosh of flame startling him, causing him to trip over a stump and fall on his ass.  His fake headdress fell to the ground and that's my most vivid memory of the Order - Chief On His Ass with hat hair and the overwhelming smell of lighter fluid.

- rick, disrespectful no longer.

Comments

[a rose is a rose]

what, no canoe?

why do we emulate (sometimes) those that we exclude? (rhetorical)

[Success Warrior]

Rose, they used a canoe the year I was up there. The chosen ones were run down to canoes, tossed in, and paddled out into the darkness, disappearing.

I never did ask what happens. I didn't care as long as it didn't happen to me. I was just up there to do some hiking, camping, and canoeing.

I don't know if I ever earned a merit badge, now that I think of it.

[Sister Mary Lisa]

Great post again, Rick. I grew up watching my parents who were deep into scouting, as well as my brothers, who were not, as they struggled to please my dad by going through the motions even though they hated it.

Incidentally, did you know my husband is a Mason?

[CV Rick]

I had no idea your husband was a mason.

Order of the Arrow was as close as I ever got to being a mason. I've not had any desire to be in a secret club for many many years.

[mark]

what, what about our club...I mean group...oh, wait...crap...um...

[Sister Mary Lisa]

My father-in-law is a Shrine clown, and a Mason too. My husband has been in it since he first reached adulthood. I've been pressured intensely by my mother-in-law to join Eastern Star, but I won't be doing it.

[Lynx]

Sorry to read this, first of all I'm from Canada and we don't call it the order of the arrow here, but we have something similar and reading your post made me kind of sad. Wath you experienced was obviously a butched ceremony, devoid of its original meaning. Like any other ceremony I believe it can be done the wrong way and loose all its potential, did you know that in France their is actually a law in the criminal code forbiding the scouts to do this kind of ceremony because of a couple of scouts masters who did stupid things instead of the precribed rhite (witch by the way was not like yours but a combination of 10 smaller rhite based on original native ways, by your post I gather you only did one of the ten in a harder fashion than it is supposed to be done). Wath we call here Totemisation (or vaguely translated to receive a totem) is not about a secret society or surviving alone in the woods (or at least it's not suppose to be) it is about marking the begining of adulthood and aknowledging the newly aquired maturity of a teenager who is ready to assume more responsability and to work on himself to better himself (hence the quality one must acquire witch is given with the animal name). I see why some might see it as a stupid innitiation (like one of a hockey team or else) but having been through one such a ceremony in my younger years and beeing a scout master who conduct those ceremony (in a responsible and educative way mind you, to honour those ancient traditions and to explain them carefully to the teenagers, not to play indians or to parody those rhites) I believe, if well done, it can be a special experience comparable to no others in our modern world.

Lynx

[CV Rick]

I understand the sentiment, Lynx. And I appreciate it. But to tell you the truth, I'm more than a little concerned that you're a scout master, influencing kids. Maybe it's the spelling.

[brian smith]

the OA is not about being in the wood for a day and a half. Its a Brotherhood of cherful campers. and besinds thats not what happens on a ordeal.

[CV Rick]

Brian, you don't know how to spell. You probably aren't smart enough to read my post either. I was there, it's what happened, and it's what OA is about. Go back to school, learn to read, write, spell, then return to discuss.

[Tim]

As a former Lodge Chief of an Order of the Arrow Lodge, I am disgusted with your Ordeal experience. It appears that the Lodge that performed your induction has no idea the impact that a poorly executed Ordeal has on its members. You are not wrong for the views you have on the Order of the Arrow after such an experience. I would have also felt the same.

Fortunately, my Ordeal ceremony, along with my Brotherhood and Vigil ceremonies, have been wonderful experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The Order of the Arrow has taught me the value of service towards fellow man, the importance of remaining cheerful through hard tasks, and it has granted me many life-long friends who all embrace the true value of the society.

There is no doubt that a properly executed ceremony, performed by Arrowmen that appreciate the OA as much as I and so many others do (and adhere to strict National Guidlines concerning Ceremonies, would have changed your views on the program.

[Thunder]

Lynx,
I totally agree with you. I am a Native American Indian and also very much involved with Scouting and the Order of the Arrow as well. Whomever was in charge of your ceremony, Evidentally knew nothing of the OA and its principles. That was a botched attempt at one part. It should be done with respect to our ancestors and using hand made wears. The Order also has nothing to do with masonic rituals. If you get right down to it, you can tie almost any groups together. If you try hard enough you can tie Christianity to Masonic rituals. People should really know what they are talking about before making posts such as some of the ones ive read recently. For none of us have any right to judge another for what we do except our Creator above. We eventually will all have to stand before him when our time comes. Until then leave the judging and ridicule to him alone.
Thunder

[Brian]

I'm in the unenviable position of having never been a Scout (forbidden by my parents because of their local affiliations to the KKK at that time) but having to endure my step-son who has gone from being a Cub Scout to being a Boy Scout. So far, BSA has done nothing for him but

I am not a Native American, but I was quite insulted by the Crossover Ceremony by the OA's when he transferred from Cub's. It was an embarrassing display of hokey made up lore. It was bad enough in Cub Scouting, but this was laughable.

I'm not impressed with BSA to begin with, so this sub-culture thing raises the my "danger" sign. Generally, I view secret societies as something to walk away from at a brisk pace. Thanks for the view into OA.