Article Contributed on: 11/26/2007 8:32:28 PM
I didn't realize it until I was sitting in the sizeable audience watching Michael Reed receive his Eagle Award, but I practically grew up with that kid.
My brother and Michael were in scouts together for at least ten years. They started as wee little Cub Scouts making volcanoes in Jane O'Neil's kitchen and eventually evolved into full-fledged Boy Scouts.
Watching Michael's ceremony, I couldn't help but remember that I was at near every Cub Scout meeting and almost every scouting ritual imaginable. And to be honest, it was a little emotional.
At one point, people in the audience were allowed to come up on stage and talk about their favorite scouting memories they had with Michael. Kyle O'Neil told the story about the skunk that was eating Goldfish in their tent. Ashley Buchart shared with us Michael's hidden gift of interpretive dance.
But my brother, Nick, was the one who said the thing that most hit the nail on the head. When telling us about how excited Michael was for Nick to make it to the top of his very first fourteener, Nick said:
"Michael is just one of those guys."
And he's absolutely right. That's the best possible way to explain that intangible quality about Michael.
Sure he's trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent -- but all scouts have those qualities. It is, after all, their law. But there's something else. He's got that little something in him that makes him both share in the triumphs and comfort the sorrows of his fellow scouts, friends, and loved ones.
So, with my heart full with pride and my eyes full of tears, I watched Joe Skalisky bestow upon Michael the highest honor in Scouting all the while thinking that he didn't deserve it just because he's an outstanding scout for jumping through all the hoops to get to that level, but also because at the very core of Michael Reed is an outstanding person.