The Gift
By William Kelly
A Scoutmaster's simple instruction in firebuilding also proved to be a lifetime lesson about overcoming failure
It was a cold, drizzly day in July 1970. To earn the rank of Second Class Scout I had to build a cooking fire. And I could use only two matches.
I piled up a handful of damp twigs and struck my first wooden match. It flared up, but the twigs wouldn't light. I held that match as long as I could. Finally, I had to drop it. The twigs weren't even warm.
So I scooped them up and dried them with my shirt inside my raincoat. Then I lit my second match. The twigs glowed and smoldered. A small flame caught hold. I added a few leaves, but they were too soggy. Smoke stung my eyes. For almost half an hour I tried to keep that flame alive, but all that came of it was a clump of charred leaves.
I walked into the Nature Center lodge to see my scout leaders. The two men were sitting by a roaring fire. When they saw me with my ash-smudged face and wet hair they burst out laughing. One of them said I smelled like smoked sausage. They told me to try again next week.
But I didn't.
Months later on a scout trip, one of the dads, Mr. Seeley, asked me why I always volunteered to collect wood, but avoided the job of starting a fire. I sheepishly told him how I'd made a mess of my two-match test. I tried to make it sound funny. I described how it had made the other men laugh, but Mr. Seeley saw right through me.
He took me aside and showed me how to split a log open, even a wet one, to find dry wood in the center. With a sharp knife, he whittled a pile of thin shavings. Next he split more center wood into small kindling sticks. He used them to build a miniature teepee around the pile of shavings. With one match the curled shavings flared up. The bone-dry wood caught and burned clean. He kept adding sticks, one at a time, each a little bigger than the next. Soon the fire crackled with leaping flames.
Then he looked me in the eye and said no matter what happened in life, I should never give up. He told me that to do just about anything worthwhile all you need is grit and know-how. He said the grit is on the inside, and the know-how is out in the world waiting to be gathered. You just have to decide to find both.
A few years later I earned my Eagle Scout badge. To this day I can build a fire in almost any conditions. It's a valuable skill I've used for years on countless camping expeditions.
But Mr. Seeley taught me much more than a skill. He taught me a life lesson about overcoming failure, how to learn, how to teach, and how to inspire others. It's the greatest gift I've ever received.
William Kelly lives in Delmar, N.Y.
October 2004 Table of Contents
Copyright © 2004 by the Boy Scouts of America. All rights thereunder reserved; anything appearing in Scouting magazine or on its Web site may not be reprinted either wholly or in part without written permission. Because of freedom given authors, opinions may not reflect official concurrence.