It all began at a boyscout(I am reluctant to be a scout, story for another day) campout (at the rather large grounds of our rural host church), when another scout (called Jeff) and I began to playfully make insults to each other(which we often did, as friends). First he began to get tired of the insults, and then began to make more serious insults. Now that there was a full blown argument going between us, we were both quite angry with each other, but breakfast was over and we went off in separate directions. He wen to teach younger scouts how to do something, which was the purpose of the campout, while I went to prepare the welcoming ceremony for the younger scouts who had just joined the troop. Later in the morning, as another scout and myself were digging a hole to make an anchor for a lashing project that was going to be used in the ceremony, Jeff came up and began to threaten me with a baseball bat sized log in protest of my argument with him. I moved myself into a defensive stance with my shovel, while the other scout began to insult the mother of Jeff and his brothers. I (foolishly) joined in, not realizing that his 11 year old brothers, who in all reality were innocent, were behind me. By the time I realised they were there, they were crying. This is when the adults began realizing what was going on. Because Jeff already had a poor reputation in the troop, Jeffs mother had complained about how he was treated to the scoutmaster, Mr. Anklin. Because of that, I was publicly shouldered with all of the blame, while in private Mr. Anklin tried to convince me that it was not really my fault, because I had taken all of the blame instead of just what was due to me, in an attempt to be tactful. All this happened in the morning.
In the afternoon, after lunch, a friend of mine, Eric was playing Jeff at checkers, and while I THOUGHT that Jeff had cooled off some, he began trash talking me while I was observing the game. My intention had been to apologize for my words that morning. After about ten minutes of him following and taunting me, after I had left the checkers game, I went to my father and told him that I wanted to leave, and that if it were OK with him, I would call my mom and have her pick me up(Our campsite is less than ten minutes from my mom's house). He told me I really should try and make ammends before leaving, and that if I did make ammends that there would be no real point in leaving(In all reality, he was right). Later, Jeff came up to me, to continue threatening me, this time with a sharpened stick. He began sticking it in my face and threatening, graphically describing his methods, to stab it through my eye. At this point, I was pretty freaked out, and close to melting down. This is where the Eric becomes important to the story. Eric game grabbed the stick from Jeff, and as they were grappling over the potential murder weapon, I ran off to get an adult. The adult I came across first, Mr. Brehmer was at the fire. I started yelling about what was happening, because at that point I was not calm enough for normal speech. Mr. Brehmer, knowing about both of the earlier altercations, and now knowing that Eric was most likely still wrestling the weapon from Jeff, made the decision that the most appropriate response was to start yelling at me to calm down(Mr. Brehmer is not my favorite adult leader...). Fortunately, he realized the situation was actually somewhat dire, and that his priorities at that moment were off.
So, after Mr. Brehmer stopped the fight, and the matters sorted out, I elected to leave. Knowing my fathers previous response, and not necessarily being in a rational state of mind, I called my mom without asking for permission to leave, and then as I was walking from the camp to the parking lot of the church whose grounds the camp is on to wait for my mom, I called my dad, who was at that point unaware of the entire situation, because he was teaching at a knot tying station for the new scouts, and told him that I was 'Sick of this Jeff b******t' and that I was leaving, before I promptly hung up. When my mom got there, she decided to talk to my dad and the scoutmaster, with the scoutmaster still trying to make it sound like it wasn't my fault. Both my dad and the scoutmaster decided that it was OK if I wanted to leave.
The next scout meeting I found out that Jeff and his family had left the troop because of me. I made a complete ass of myself to Jeff and his brothers(Especially his brothers), as well as to my father, and I still have not thanked Eric for helping me and possibly saving my sorry worthless life. I still feel guilty about this evn though it happened in June, and while I can apologize to my father, and thank Eric anytime, I can never apologize to the family of Jeff, because they have cut all ties with me and everyone from the troop, because of me. Also, because Eric and Jeff were good friends, no matter what Eric Says, I also feel guilty for destroying that friendship.
12 Feb 2012, 11:40 pm
