Page 28 - march

GLEANINGS FROM THE GROVE
Wearin’ of the Green
Paul C. Fanning, DTM
Ah, faith and begorrah. It is that time of year
when ye who claim the green from the Irish
Isles celebrate-whether ye be a native born of the
auld sod, or a descendent, adopted or adapted,
everyone is Irish the 17th on Saint Patrick’s
Day-Saint Paddy’s Day to us blessed by the
Blarney Stone and anointed with the luck of
Finnegan himself. Green ale and potatoes aside,
the wearing of the green has influenced my life
from a young age, but not the emerald or Kelly
green, instead it was the olive green of the Boy
Scouts that had a profound impact.
Two volunteer organizations have indeed
28 ONE COMMUNITY
shaped my life, one from age eight and the
other in the past fifteen years. The first was
the Boy Scouts, and to use the proper term
of the day, the Boy Scouts of America. That
was my first introduction to the wearing of
the green.
There was a book published in the early
twentieth century entitled “Scouting on
Two Continents” by Frederick R. Burnham,
who had learned to “scout” in the United
States and Canada in the late nineteenth
century before becoming a military scout
under Lt. Colonel Robert S.S. Baden Powell
during the Boer War 1899-1902. I was a
Scouting legacy from two continents. My
mother’s father had been a British Scout
and Rover Scout and remembered meeting
the founder of the Scouts, Bade Powell, at a
rally in London in 1920. Grandfather had
very fond memories of his Scouting days
and was a constant encourager for me to
join the “programme” when I was of age.
My mother had been a Brownie and Girl
Guide in London until Mr. Hitler interfered
with her meetings during WW2. My father
and his father participated in the program
here in the United States. Grandfather was
a camp ranger while my father went from
Cub Scout to Life Scout before high school