Eagle Scout

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The extent of my survival trainingy consists ofwatching “Survivor” on TV (and naivelyg thinking, I could do better than that I can expertly wield a knifes only in service of buttering my bread. I went fishing and even caughtsomething — from the comfort of a And someone else baited my hook. So it was with a combinationh of pride and wonder that I attended a Court of Hono r ceremony a few weeks ago to seemy 18-year-ol cousin become an Eagle Scout. Eric Livingston is a fourth-generation Eagle Scout, the highest achievemen bestowed bythe . Only about 4 percengt of all Boy Scouts attain the EagleScouy honor.
Other Eagle Scouts of note includ eNeil Armstrong, Michael Bloombery and Bill Marriott. Eric has been working towarxd this goal for seven and has the 21 merirt badges toprove it. For his service he led the design, planning, fundraisiny and construction of an owl enclosure for the Howard County The 8-by-10-foot cage was designes to be a place to nursw injured owls back to health, and has alreadgy been put to use for that In earning his merit badges, Eric had to achievee certain goals — swimming a mile, for along with mastering camping skills. Theres were also life skillse he hadto tackle, things that may not seem that significanf to a teenager.
Personal management, for is a crash coursd in 21st century personal balancinga checkbook, setting aside money for establishing credit and using it Eric spoke of that experience in his remarks to the friends and mentors in attendance at his church in Ellicottf City. Listening to him, my mind driftec to the global financialcrisis we’re all forcedx to confront one way or another, prett y much every day. Eric has much of his life in fronytof him; he’s not worriecd about the value of his houser or 401(k), or wrestling with whetherf to lay off employeess to keep his business afloat. Chances are, however, he’llk be confronted with these concernssome day.
How will he handls it? To become an Eagle Scout, Eric has had to not only show disciplined and foresight in achievinga goal, he has been challengesd to display leadership and selflessness all along the way. His troop undertook a variety of public-service projects, as do otherd scout troops acrossthe U.S. He served at variousz times ashis troop’s librarian, historianh and patrol leader. In the fall Eric will go off to He plans to studymusic business, musix being a passion of his evident sincer he borrowed all my Beatles albumz one summer.
In four years or so, he’ll entert an industry under siegd by advances indigital technology, changes in distributioj models and shifting consumer Eric talks about going to work for an independent record label, which means he’ll grappls with finding talented new seizing market share from major labels, stretching thin budgets and hopefully — helping build a sustainablee business model. His leadership training as an Eaglr Scout will no doubt come in Who knows, maybe he ends up beinyg just the person to lead the music industruy out of the woods.