Finding Faith ... in a level playing field

I will forever remember this night nine years ago as the night the "Bug" became "The Skipper."

The "Bug" is what our son Carter, who is a senior this year, was called when he was younger. You can read more about that in the "Parenting Perspectives" columns found elsewhere on this blog.

On this night, when Carter was 8, our Cub Scout pack held its annual Raingutter Regatta. The raingutter regatta is a racing event for Cub Scouts that is the sailboat equivalent of the Pinewood Derby. The sailboat kit consists of a seven-inch long balsa wood hull, a 6-1/2 inch mast, plastic sail, plastic rudder, and metal keel. Within the basic design rules, Scouts are free to paint and decorate their sailboats as they choose. Modifications for speed include the placement of the keel and rudder and the size, shape and location of the sail.

And then all the Cub Scouts from the entire pack gather together to race their boats down two parallel "race tracks" composed of 10-foot long rain gutter sections. The boys propel the boats by either blowing wind on their sails directly or through a straw. ... And of course, the first boy to blow his boat to the other end of the rain gutter wins his race.

Most packs continue to race until a winner is declared, and on this summer night that winner was a starry-eyed, grinning-from-ear-to-ear, rosey-cheeked Bug. And no boy had ever been prouder to take home the blue ribbon at a Raingutter Regatta.

You see, for the Bug, this was just desserts for a kid who repeatedly suffered soul crushing loss after loss each year at the Pinewood Derby, a model car race in which the kids are supposed to design, build and paint essentially on their own. But, unfortunately, many dads can't help themselves, and they often jump in to design the car for their boys so that they go faster, and of course help them win.

And, unfortunately for Carter, his dad (me!) didn't inherit those handyman skills. The cars that I helped the boys produce were always designed by them, mostly constructed by them and completely painted by them. And this always put my boys at a distinct disadvantage when we were racing the cars.

While the boys' cars did take home prizes once in a while for the "Most Unique" or "Best Looking" cars, those awards never seemed to hold a candle to the prize of fastest car. Many a year, we walked away from the Pinewood Derby bitter because of the dads who didn't get what this race was really about. And many a year I spent consoling a sad boy at home after he put on a brave face at the race.

But that was not the case this night at the Raingutter Regatta.

Carter designed his own boat, built it and painted it. ... All by himself.

And when he lined up for that first race, he literally blew the other boy out of the water. Carter intuitively understood that to win this race, you had to blow that darn boat with everything you had for about 10 or 15 seconds to give yourself any chance of winning. And man did he blow! ... Sometimes his poor little regatta boat seemed poised to jump right out of the rain-gutter track. But, alas, it never did. ... And eventually Carter blew through the competition to win his den's championship! That meant he beat every kid in his age bracket.

It's hard to describe what that win meant for Carter. ... Because of that win, he came to understand that given a level playing field, he could compete in competitions with other kids. And he came to understand why it was that he would never win the Pinewood Derby ... because it wasn't a level playing field.

What a shame that an 8-year-old had to learn that about adults in the Scouts, but I'm proud of how graciously he accepted his blue ribbon that night. ... And let me tell you, that smile he wore was worth all of the Pinewood Derby losses we had suffered over the years together!