Boy scouts. Wait, Girl Scouts? Girl, Scouts? Girl, Boy Scouts?

If you’re a little confused reading that, join the club. In case you missed it, as of Wednesday, Oct. 12, the Boy Scouts of America recently made the executive decision to allow girls to join boy scouts. So, the big question I have is: Why did the Boy Scouts, all of a sudden, make this decision?

Growing up, I myself was a Cub Scout and later a Boy Scout. I never did achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, which was the highest level of scout you could achieve, but I feel like I got the gist of what Boy Scouts was about.

The great outdoors! Oh, mother nature, in all your beauty, what else could scouts be about, right?

While many activities may be outdoors related, the overall message the scouts sends is not only that of benefiting the individual or the Boy Scouts of America as a whole; in my opinion, it also focuses on benefiting the community.

Yes, camping, fishing and knot tying are traditional skills taught throughout the scouting program and, of course, the highlight of every year: the pinewood derby race. But what do these seemingly common activities teach our growing youth?

Camping teaches planning, execution and allows teamwork opportunities. The pinewood derby teaches woodworking and working with limited resources. Knot tying: all around, a good common skill to have. Lastly, if anyone has ever tried fishing, you know it takes patience and, in theory, should help teach patience.

Believe me, I too wish there was a cheat code to catching fish.

Alas, catching a fish, albeit difficult, is not enough to get you to the high rank of Eagle Scout. The biggest part in becoming an Eagle Scout is a community project. An example being, a member from my troop back in the day made a map of the town’s graveyard and catalogued all individuals buried there.

So, what’s the big deal about becoming an Eagle Scout? Achieving the rank of Eagle scout provides some important benefits. Just the title alone has proven that said scout is devoted, loyal, honest and a hard-working leader.

Another incentive is the scholarships that are only available to Eagle Scouts. Possibly the biggest reason to become an Eagle Scout is any person interested in joining the military — any branch — gets rank advancements and pay raises just for previously being an Eagle Scout.

Now, back to the main topic! (Hopefully, all this provides an answer as to why anyone would want to join scouts. It’s all about employment opportunity and benefitting the community and society).

Being a former Boy Scout and not a Girl Scout, I didn’t want to make assumptions about what Girl Scouts was about, so I went to an “expert.” By this, I mean I asked my girlfriend who was a scout, and she informed me that Girl Scouts for her was pretty much the same thing I was doing as a Boy Scout.

The Girl Scouts of America even has a Golden Award, which is their parallel to the Eagle Scout rank, with similar benefits.

Well in that case, my mind goes back to square one in why girls would be allowed into Boy Scouts. As confusing as it may be, all I can think of is that this is a step towards equality for the Boy Scouts of America — everybody has an equal opportunity to prove themselves through this well-known program.

Some smaller townships might not have enough girls interested in scouts for a Girl Scout program, and this would be a way to allow scout groups to form.

How should boys feel about this? Well, if there were girls in scouts while I was in scouts, I would have been more interested anyway (although I might have paid less attention during meetings, if that was possible).

I think boys should welcome girls into their group with open arms — in many cases, I believe females truly are better at some activities than males. Welding, for example, tends to require a steady hand, and I’ve always been told girls are naturally steadier.

So, absolutely! Give them the opportunity to “be prepared;” that is the slogan, after all.

After all this, though, I hope the Boy Scouts of America remains the same in their rules. The Boy Scouts has been doing the same thing for a very long time and that it should continue the way it has.

I feel anyone going into scouts should know the potential danger of camping and other events hosted by scout groups across the country. I also think the bar for scouts, especially to become an Eagle Scout, has been set at a high level, but not one that is unreachable.

All these skills apply to both men and women, and now Boy Scouts has opened an opportunity for both young boys and girls to grow together, coexisting, similar to that of a workplace.

What more could you want from scouts?