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A Mark of True Leadership
I realize the title of the article is a bit on the nose since I’m going to talk about a great leader I knew named Mark, but the opportunity was just too good to pass up.
Mark was an unassuming man, a carpenter by trade. He was also the leader assigned to our little group of scouts with the Boy Scouts of America when I turned twelve. I joined the troop, excited at the prospect of becoming an Eagle Scout as fast as I could.
Mark loved his profession, and while he didn’t make buckets of money doing it, he was good at it. His quiet nature belied the fact that he had the physical strength and mental fortitude to accomplish just about anything he put his mind to.
In our area, there were a lot of boys that belonged to our troop. Mark, along with two assistants, planned and carried out innumerable activities for our band of misfits. To the best of my recollection, at its peak we had something like twenty boys in our troop. That was probably small compared to some troops in other areas of the country, but our group also met four times more than other troops and mixed in camping almost every month.
Mark and his assistants pulled that off while maintaining their employment and still finding time for their own families. Mark, in particular, had a young family that needed his time and attention.