That’s it! Israel has finally gone too far!

How hot is extreme, you and I have now asked ourselves. Well, let me read aloud.

“as high as 45 degrees Celsius” (113 F)

“northern province [of Thailand] exceeded 44.1 degrees Celsius on Saturday” (111.4 F)

“Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh, forecasters warned that temperatures could exceed 40 degrees Celsius in the coming days” (104 F)

“city of Mandalay could rise to 43 degrees Celsius” (109 F)

“It’s very unpleasant and it takes the energy out of you.”

Op ed: sounds nasty hot

What if a kid had an incurable spreadable disease? Throw them in the hot summer car?

I’m a previous boy scout (~2006-12) and camp staff (~2010-2019). It’s hard to see a lot of these stories and accusations come out against bsa. While I was a youth and staff member, there was a lot of guarding from any possibility of sexual abuse. Many hours of meetings and training for both youth and adult members of the bsa. Everything erred on the side of caution. Even between staff members there’s a lot of separation between over/under 18.

Granted these experiences all took place in a fairly liberal area. But I like to think that in the last 20+ years, the bsa has become a much safer organization. Inclusive too, girls are now allowed and welcome. (Do note girls and boys are a part of separate groups (there are co-ed branches of bsa though, Venture Scouts)).

I also think it’s important to know how involved the Morman church used to be with bsa. There’s recently been a pretty large separation between the two organizations, but that wasn’t always the case. And without speculating too hard, churches don’t have a great history with sexual abuse.

All of this is to say that I believe all the past survivors, and they do deserve justice. But it’s hard to see their lawsuits coming after what I believe is a fundamentally different organization (different policies, different leaders, different ties). I think there’s a lot of good that bsa can help instill with today’s youth. I’m not sure what a good solution is.