Summer Splash 4/4

4. YFL

How do you describe the most wonderful week of the summer?  I will try my best do describe what fun I had at Youth for Liberty Camp.

To start off with, I went with some very dear friends.  You know who you are.  Thank you for inviting me.  We slept in cabins, which was a hit.  (Very different from scout tents).  We had cabin inspections (military style) every morning.

During the day we would have activities, games, excellent food, simulations, and seminars and workshops on the constitution and the liberties we have in this great country. 

In the mornings I would run in the beautiful mountains on crisp days with the sun shining through the trees.

After I got back, we would clean the cabins and eat breakfast.  Afterwards, we had inspections and started classes.  Some of the big activities included obstacle courses, the constitution quiz, and free time.  We had a water balloon fight and water balloon volleyball.

One morning we were awoken in the middle of the night by our leaders dressed in military uniform, and we were told to dress quickly and filed out silently onto the parade ground.  They split us into groups. The boys were given wooden rifles and were instructed on how to carry them.  They explained that during the American Revolution, we would hold our rifles with the barrel up to keep the gun dry.  In modern warfare, they point their guns down, to be able to bring it up quick for immediate action.  We hiked about half a mile through trail, stream, and hill.  We ended in a clearing with tall grass on all sides, as one of the camp leaders talked to us about the Minute Men and how they responded.  We realized that we too had been woken up just as they might have been during those early days of the Revolution.  We hiked back singing a song commemorating 9-11.

(We learned later, that the girls had been given lanterns and they also hiked to the top of a hill to have their own morningside). 

One other simulation occurred on the first day.  We were given a pamphlet with five pages of detailed rules.  As we read them, we realized that some of them were rather ridiculous (i.e.  no chewing gum while walking).  We were beginning to doubt how fun this camp was really going to be?  That night, our leaders explained that all the rules were forfeit.  They were compiled them simply to show the restrictive nature of communism.  We had an insightful conversation about how the youth were going to respond to the rules imposed.  Some said that they were determined to break as many rules as possible because they seemed ridiculous.  Others said, that even though they doubted the rules, they would obey them because they knew and respected the leaders.  We learned that the leaders had watched us as we had read the rules and felt terrible as they saw our faces become dull and responding with blank stares with our freedoms taken away.  We were relieved to find out that those overly strict mandates were no longer in force.  Just as in a healthy republic, we examined the book of rules, and chose the ones that we felt would protect us and benefit the camp.  Now we could say that our "liberty camp" was truly free!