Teamwork

by Tristan Adams

Teamwork is one of the most fundamental basics in social interaction and yet some people are horrible at it. Teamwork is more than just letting other members of your team, group, or troop take care of things for you. No. Teamwork is stepping up when you see someone struggling and you know something has to be done. Teamwork is taking the initiative to help even when you aren't asked to because it's your obligation. Those who can help should and those who need help should not be afraid to ask. I personally that while teamwork is advocated just fine in schools, one of the best way for someone to witness the positive effects of teamwork first hand is to enroll in the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts of America are at the current moment the largest advocator of teamwork in my life and a huge influence upon my life outside of their confines. The Scouts teach that teamwork should be taken up whenever the situation allows it. This is true for almost every scenario I've ever come to face. At Philmont teamwork is a part of every minute of every hour of every day. Teamwork is constantly present so that things can be accomplished. Without this constant presence of teamwork nothing would get done at Philmont. People are split into teams when carrying tents and food to share, this is not a one man job. One man can not be left to carry both the food and the tent. The cleaning of the dishes and the site are jobs that are split up between different people and done as a team. This holds true for setting up tents as well as many other functions of the crew. A crew at Philmont becomes an extremely tight knit group of people, thrown together on the trail. Friendships spring up in even the most unlikely of places, bringing people together and creating stories to share for years to come. All of this and the pure enjoyment of the trip itself has a basis in teamwork. Without the teamwork displayed by the crew at all times there would be no time for fun, no time for friendship, no time for much of anything at all as everyone would be running around attempting to accomplish the most difficult of tasks on their own. In other every day interactions with other people out in the real world scouting skills such as teamwork still come in handy. It's things like teamwork that make everything in the world function properly. It's things like teamwork that make sure that all of society stays working the way it should. It's things like teamwork that there isn't enough of in the world. If only everyone could experience first hand just what teamwork could accomplish, perhaps the world would be a more efficient place for all of us. It is a shame that not everyone can go to Philmont and have the experience of feeling the powers of teamwork accomplish things. We can, however, spread and advocate teamwork in everyday life merely by practicing it in our own lives.