In an era where 18-35 year-olds are criticized for being lazy and not living up to their potential, junior Hans Zeiger’s book is impressive and commendable, if not for its message at least for the hard work and dedication required to get it published.
“Get Off My Honor” is at its least a defense of the Boy Scouts of America. Zeiger, an Eagle Scout and founder of the Scout Honor Coalition, has long been a proponent of the Scouts and their oath and law.
In his book, Zeiger provides a well-documented history of the Boy Scouts dating to the early twentieth century in Britain. Zeiger’s primary focus in “Get Off My Honor” is to provide a response to those who have fought against the Boy Scouts and their influence in American society. He also explores how traditional American concepts and ideals influenced the founders of the Boy Scouts, especially their concept of honor.
“For a Scout, honor has everything to do with the great code of ethics set forth in the Scout oath and law,” Zeiger writes. “Honor is carefully defined by the principles of the codes of Scouting, and honor is compromised by any whose character falls short of meeting those principles.”
For Zeiger and the Boy Scouts, honor and loyalty are more important than political correctness and individual self-esteem. Zeiger is clear to describe and defend the tenets of the Boy Scout oath and law.
The latter chapters of the book deal with the political and judicial issues the Boy Scouts of American have faced in the past two decades. From issues of religion to homosexuality, Zeiger explains in great detail the Boy Scouts’ stance and legal battles they have faced. He goes to great pains to explain that the Boy Scouts are not a Christian organization.
“The Boy Scouts of America,” Zeiger writes, “encourages youth from all faiths to be active participants. The BSA’s Religious Relationships Committee oversees the granting of religious patches to Scouts who demonstrate exemplary service to their faith group. Twenty-nine religious groups award patches...”
Zeiger contends that the only “religious group” restricted from Boy Scout membership are atheists,
Throughout the book, Zeiger portrays the Boy Scouts as a distinctly apolitical group, citing statements from Boy Scout leadership from the past and present. He argues for the necessity of the Boy Scouts in today’s society, citing also the Freedom of Association in defense of the discrimination they have in choosing their membership. Boy Scouts take an oath for membership which includes a pledge to be “morally straight.”
“The Boy Scouts have defined morally straight to mean a certain type of character, and only the Boy Scouts of America can define what that type of character is,” Zeiger contends. “Morally straight means many things, and it includes a regard for the traditional, heterosexual marriage relationship.”
Zeiger argues for the necessity of the Boy Scouts in young men’s lives. They provide a place for boys “to grow up, to study for and enter manhood, to fight and to conquer, to experience the wilderness,” he says.
They do this all while upholding the Scout oath and law and taking moral and virtuous leadership position in American society, a place which they have held for nearly 100 years.
Zeiger’s clarity and emphatic delivery clearly reveals his stance on the Boy Scouts. “Get Off My Honor,” his first published book, is well-written and argued, leaving little room for criticism of quality. The only glaring criticism of the book is its marketing: what looks like a book for children is full of research and a clearly argued defense of the Boy Scouts.