Number 6 of 25 – Axe at Scoutmaster

When I first put my 25 random things list together, I realised that most of my current circle didn’t know much about my past and the many adventures I’ve had. Of course now life is just as adventurous but it’s a different flavour. So when I put the list out I recieved quite a few “Wows!”, “Interesting Life”, etc and some people said I should tell the story behind them, so here’s one:

6. I threw an axe at my Scoutmaster in Secondary school, following which I quit from the Scouts.

I joined the Scouts when I was in Primary school, because my parents thought that it will teach me good principles and practices that will last me throughout my life. Well I guess it sounds logical in theory but sometimes, the human influence on an impressionable group can be so overpowering that a creed, motto or a pledge cannot cover.

When I came to Secondary school, this was certainly the case. The people running the “show” were a competitive bunch and considering I was from one of the most active and strongest Scout troops in SG, the rest of the troop was meant to be that way too. At that time, I found that Scouting was lame. Sorry Scouts! So I became what I would like to term as a “fringe participant”, that is, more like “along for the ride”. This did not go down well with my Scoutmasters, in particular one who was not a member of the teaching staff but an outsider, let’s call him Mr. Action.

Mr. Action had spoke to me a few times, urging me to be more participative and not be so slack. He said once and I quote “I know you Malays are quite slack in nature but you need to be different”. Wow!, this statement caught me completely off guard for a few reasons:

1. I am not Malay, I may not be very dark but I am Indian.
2. He was being an utter racist, no one should be compartmentalised for whatever reason.
3. I would have forgiven him for such a ignorant comment but him being Scoutmaster it was absolutely disgraceful.
4. For a guy with a crappy command of the English language to have the “stones” to say something like that, Wow! Mr. Action indeed.

I ignored this “brotherly talk” but at the same time remained on the fringe. As days passed I found myself getting “arrowed” for the really crappy jobs. Like cleaning out the Quartermaster’s store (which was filthy, there was absolutely no way of cleaning it completely), polishing a pile of old trophies and soaking wood in kerosene (for campfire) all while the rest of the troop was doing fun stuff and hanging out with girl guides. Perhaps at this point I should mention I was the only non-Chinese or non-Eurasian in my Scout troop, so the victim in me kicked in as well, I must admit.

My animosity for Mr. Action was piling. Hey, I was a young boy with no knowledge of how to channel my anger. So one day as I was untangling a large sack of rope in the store, Mr. Action walked in to see my progress. He was not impressed and proceeded to lecture me on about the how I should be, when he started to talk about being a Malay and that he understood that my “background was different” and I am not completely to be blame since “my culture is like that”. At this point, I was quite hot. I snapped when he said that my parents though uneducated as most Malays are should not have such a lasting influence and that he can make the difference in my life, if I listened to him.

At this point, I grabbed the nearest big “throwable” object and flung it in his direction. Thanks be to God that he ducked because it was an axe that I had threw! He was so surprised at what I did, that when he got up he was literally trembling. I shouted “You racist son of a b*i^h, wait till the Principal hears about this!”. Following that I stormed out and went to the teacher in charge and quit from the troop. It made no sense in carrying on. I never did speak to the Principal and I never heard another word from the Mr. Action.

Till today, I am thanking God that Mr. Action ducked, my life would have been different if he did not. Its just another one of life’s hard lessons that stays with you, I hope Mr. Action learnt something as well.

M Thankful.