On the way back, I met a large group of scouts coming down Osceola Mountain. They were carrying the huge orange flag poles they used for marking the summit conquest. By their own admission, they only hung the flags for five minutes or so, as the cold was so penetrating. They could not wait the two hours required by the scout etiquette.
One of the boys was rubbing his hands with a small packet. It was a hand warmer, an unknown item in the Israeli market… The boys came with two older men, who were their mentors. The men were fairly advanced in years and, compared with the boys, were not that much in shape. As the boys ran ahead, I talked with them. They explained the hike was intentionally set for September 11th as a commemoration.
Scouts in America are so much more formal than in Israel. That holds true for our militaries as well. The costumes are cleaner-cut and very decorated, the mentors are much older and professional. The whole fun of the scouts in Israel is that 16-17-year-olds train the younger kids. Only the top heads of the troops, called “gdudim”, are anything like army age or older. It is an organization basically run by children for children, and that is its beauty.
Kids learn how to become leaders for other kids, a useful skill in an emerging country that depends on its army, but the atmosphere is not militaristic. The emphais is on socializing and the outdoors. The non-formalism in Israel is an integral part of the fun. In my generation, scout membership was a major element of our social lives outside of school.
The separation between girl scouts and boy scouts was terminated at seventh grade, the beginning of junior high. From then on, the social aspects of boys meeting girls were paramount. Only the smaller kids had separate groups, with girl mentors for the girls and boys for the boys. Once together, the mentors were mostly high school folks. They would lead discussions on various pertinent topics, like what is the definition of a people. Sometimes they read us from books that were popular at the time and could intrigue our minds, like Orwell’s 1984… At one time we spoke about the riots in Berkeley…
I know very little about the American Scouts, but just looking at the uniforms, it is clear there is a big difference. To be fair, though, on this trip at least, the kids were dressed plainly…
The boys being boys were going a bit wild once they realized the older guys were lingering. They didn’t grab the opportunity for independence, but waited for us a bit down the road, then split off again to meet us at the parking lot. I insisted on taking their group picture. Unfortunately, I forogt my walking stick by the tree.

As I reached the campground, I realized the walking stick wasn’t with me, but it was too late to return, and I was tired. The first thing I did the next day was to drive all the way back to Greeley Ponds, but the stick was gone. Somebody must have thought it was left as a present, as sometimes people do…