ACA’s 20/20 Vision

A Love Letter to Camp,

I have a poster on my wall at work that says, “Vision is the art of seeing things invisible.”   Webster indicates that a dream can be defined as a “fond hope”.  Many of us spend our life reaching for a vision with the dream it will be realized.  Maybe that is the essence of life.

Many of us in the camp community share a dream that more children will have a camp experience.  To me, that is a worthy dream.  Yet, the journey we must take to realize that dream is invisible to many.

There are warning signs on the road to any vision.  The first warning sign tells us that vision is nothing without execution.  The second warning tells us that a vision is not for the weak of heart.

A worthy vision takes time, sacrifice, patience, persistence, failure, endurance, humility, and did I mention – time?  Oh, and dare I fail to mention, messiness.  And, how we hate messiness.

Yet, with time, deliberate or not, intentional or not, change does come.  Sometimes it is revolutionary.  Hmm, note the relationship between revolt and revolution.  But, let’s not go there.  Other times, change is an evolution often unseen over time.  Then there is transformative change.  Transformative change is often related to survival.  Regardless, change is a part of life.

LA Times writer Rosa Parks said, “Somehow we’ve managed to turn childhood into one long, hard slog”.  What kind of change is she describing?  I would suggest it has been unseen, overtime – an evolution.  As a result, many parents are unaware of how radical the change in childhood.

If true, what did we forget that allowed this change in childhood to take place?

Did we forget that for generations we grew up outside.  We walked to school.  We rode our bikes all over town.  We splashed in creeks.  We ran barefoot.  We played in the dirt.  We collected bugs.  We shared childhood characteristics such as; innocence, energy, wonder, and laughter.  (Did you know that children laugh 4 times more than adults?)  We even thought that the notion of being cooped up all day inside was a form of punishment.  Yet, today, kids spend 44.5 hours in front of a screen – with minimal movement.  The world has 22 million children under the age of 5 who are obese.  The term ‘globesity’ has been coined to define the problem.   We no longer grow up outside.

What else have we forgotten? I believe we have abandoned childhood and the appreciation of the fact that play is legitimate and developmental.  In fact, it is critical to positive child/youth development.  The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared that play is essential to the development of cognitive, physical, social, and emotional health.”  Yet, as a parent, I no longer feel I have permission to view play as a positive use of my child’s time.  Play has become a bad 4 letter word.

Doesn’t the loss of play present a threat?  Experts across the country talk about the fact that we are ‘retreating indoors’.  I fear, we are losing opportunities to create memories.  Memories of fishing, swimming, hiking, and exploring.  We may be forgetting that our best computer is our brain and our memory is the storage bin for knowledge and experiences.

David Elkind calls what is happening the ‘criminalization of childhood’.  Look at the number of schools that have eliminated recess, physical education, art, and music.  Consider the number of national campaigns that are teaching fear instead of responsible safety.

All of this impacts the camp community.  Retreating indoors, lack of appreciation for play and its developmental value, and our general, unspoken fear of one another is the antithesis of the camp community. As a result, the camp experience risks becoming  something to fear, the unknown, and the unfamiliar.  We are faced with a shrinking population with the ‘memory’ of camp.  As a society we are altering our DNA, our genetic code for the camp experience.

Yet, I understand.  Parents are raising their children in a very complex world.  Children and youth are trying to navigate a different world than the one in which their parents grew up.  Of course, this has always been true except today the speed of change is causing continuous modifications of the landscape.  It is not easy.

All of this said, it is also true that there is no better time than now to actualize our vision, our dream, and our preferred future – more children having better camp experiences.  The camp community may well, in fact, offer greater value to the lives of children, youth, and adults than ever before in our history.

Consider the fact that we are leaving our children the legacy of saving the planet.  Yet, we are doing so without giving them firsthand knowledge of the intrinsic value and beauty of the natural world.  We are also becoming a global community with disappearing boundaries where the ability to negotiate conflicts and differences will be paramount.  At the same time we are diminishing opportunities where children can learn how to establish authentic relationships,  practice and learn to ‘get along’ with others, communicate in order to enhance understanding, and learn to listen.

Daniel Pink who wrote A Whole New Mind says that IQ only accounts for between 4% and 10% of one’s success in the world.  His book suggests we are entering a conceptual age where humor, storytelling, the ability to synthesize disparate pieces of information and knowledge in order to see the ‘bigger picture’, relationships and empathy, and meaning based on purpose and spirituality are going to be critical competencies for this generation and the next.  This describes a quality camp experience.

So, what do you do as camp professionals?  First, understand that you are the “Field Guide to Childhood”.  You know how to do this work.  Learn to clearly articulate and translate the value of the camp experience in order to illustrate how it adds value to the success of individuals, communities, and the world.  Adopt a philosophy of abundance.  We are not operating from a deficit model or one of prevention or intervention.  Instead, we are operating from a position of promotion – promotion of an individual’s strengths and assets.  As parents, trust your intuition and give yourself permission to support childhood. Be prepared to actively participate in a transformative change in how our culture views childhood, play, and the camp experience!

I often feel a level of discontent, even on a good day.  Then, I question, but am I destitute? Is there a difference?  Yes.  We can feel discontented about any of the brutal facts or realities of our past and/or what we face today and still not be destitute.  We can feel a level of discontent while, at the same time,  recognize irresitible opportunities and potentialities for the future.  That combination does not define ‘destitute’.  Instead, I believe it illustrates great power.  Often, people ask me to convince them of the need to change based on logic, reasonableness, and facts - to eliminate all  their fears and unknowns.  People ask for  proof of future success like one could possess a crystal ball.  However, I do believe our path  becomes less opaque when facts and faith share the same space.    But it is when you add passion to facts and faith that you can begin to truly evoke a sense of purpose and worth.  When I envision more children and youth going to camp, I see that being accomplished using passion, faith, and facts.

I have spent several days responding to the H1N1 issue.  It occurs to me that having a collective, professional voice is an asset.  Our ability to have partners such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Association of Camp Nurses is an asset. The ability to tell parents that if they have chosen an ACA accredited camp that they can be assured that camp has established screening procedures for illness, injury, and communicable diseases  - is an asset.  We have developed these assets, and more,  for nearly a 100 years.  It is situations like this one that can only suggest to us that it is very important that ACA, as an associaton, does what it needs to do in order to remain strong and relevant.

When I was a kid, like  most kids, I spent a great deal of time wishing for things.  Wish I had new shoes.  Wish I had a new bike.  Wish I was as pretty, popular, or  smart as the person I was jealous of on that particular day.  My mom used to respond, “Wishing won’t make it so.”  She’d always tell me hard work, scarifice,  and a dose of good luck would get me a lot closer to all of my wishes.

Here I am, an adult, still wishing.  I wish more people recognized the value of the camp experience.  I wish more parents sent their children to camp.  I wish more donors would think of the camp experience and ACA when writing checks.  And, my mom is still whispering in my ear, “Wishing won’t make it so.”

So, what kind of hard work and scarifice will help us facilitate the change needed to bring the camp community transformative value in the next century?  There are so many challenges.  There are obstacles that will be difficult for us to directly influence:  the economy, the changing marketplace, and societal values.  That said we can most certainly address those challenges from a position of intentionality and well-articulated strength.  Yet, directly impacting a significant change in those areas is limited, if not impossible.  On the other hand, one of our challenges is the unintended consequences that some of our dated structure and processes have on our unrealized and undervalued potential.  I do believe we can have a direct and significant impact on that challenge.  And, as mom says, “with a good dose of luck” who knows what we can achieve?

At the end of the day,  it is all about more and better.  We use so many words that attempt to define our structure, processes, bureacracies, services, members, etc.  And, it is true, I love words.  Words are great building blocks for learning.  But when you stack blocks far too high they often topple over.  Often, lofty goals are described with simplicity so they don’t crumble under their own weight.  Hence, more and better.  More kids and better camps.  Yikes, again the motto on the ACA fireplace - Better camping for all. 

So, in this light, I was talking to several staff members today about how many kids have a camp experience today.  Well, so many questions full of ‘words’.  Well do we mean traditional camps or the plethora of camps parents send their children today?  Are we talking ‘quality’ experiences - or not?  Are we talking kids or does the diversity of the campers matter?  Are we already at 20 million kids if it is just about more?  Suddenly, the purpose of the 2020 vision, the movement, and cause of more and better was crumbling under the weight of the literal translations.  I wondered if the math was more important than the cause?  I wondered if the call to action - the name - 2020 vision - was more important than the cause itself.  Is it important, or not, to see that more children receive better camp experiences today and tomorrow? Okay, fine - we will call it 2020 squared, if we find it necessary.

I was ‘re-scanning’ the book, The World is Flat.  I do that from time to time - go back and revisit books I have enjoyed.  Every time I do so, I find another gem or something that speaks to me in a way it had not previously.

So, I am looking at the book and found this paragraph. “Therefore, thinking about how we stimulate positive imaginations is of the utmost importance.  As Irving Wladawsky-Berger, the IBM computer scientist, put it to me: We need to think more seriously htan ever about how we encourage people to focus on productive outcomes that advance and unit civiliation - peaceful imaginations that seek to “minimize alienation and celebrate interdependence rather than self-sufficiency, inclusion rather than exclusion,” openness, opportunity, and hope rather than limits, suspicion, and grievance.”

Wow, does that speak to ACA’s current angst, or not, with 2020?  Not easy, just not easy.  It demands we work from a philosophy of abundance rather than scarcity during very difficult times. The character of our human imagination will be tested.

I was driving home last night and, as I so often do, i found myself composing thoughts.  I started thinking about how important, critical the emerging camp professional is to ACA and future campers.  We so need their leadership, energy, and MOJO.  They are the ones with true 2020 vision.  They have already eliminated barriers, boundaries, borders, and baggage.  They have already moved beyond culture, class, and color.  We need their insights and guidance - maybe my old eyes don’t see things as clearly as a young set of eyes.  Sure, I have experience to offer but without clear vision there are limitations even with a dream.  I believe their vision can provice a sapce for us to create affinities, alliances, and networks that are bound by shared values and purpose.  I believe combined with experience, they can help us build a fabric so strong that it can edure our own wear and tear.

Jim Collins, who wrote Good to Great and Build to Last, was asked what we might expect in the next 30 yeas.  His answer:  uncertainty, chaos, turbulence, and risk.  Well, that just about sums it up.  If you want to read the full article you can go to http://www.inc.come/magazine/2009040/in-times-like-these-you-get-a-chance.html

In the article he also states it isn’t risk that is making us all squirrely (my word, not his) but the ambiguity.  Ah, another one of my favorite words.  I have found that we all have different levels of tolerance for ambiguity.  It has been said my tolerance level is rather high - of course, that drives those around me crazy.  Nonetheless, ambiguity needles at all of us to one degree or another.  However, discriminating between risk and ambiguity is worth consideration.  If you get a chance, read the article.  I wonder what it makes you contemplate.

There is no place to hide.  Whether you are at work or home, serious issues must be addressed.  The good news is we are all in it together.  And often, great crisis bears great innovation.  As an association, we have many questions that we must answer.  We need not focus on traditional re-organization issues but, instead,  questions that will result in the remaking of our association for the next century.  What does it mean to be a member today in a web-enabled world?  How does an association respond to the demand for more choices, greater openness, and equal access  - all defying boundaries?  How does an associaiton facilitate and maximize the desire to self-coordinate within widely distributed networks? How does an association create a collaborative environment with shared planning frameworks designed to ensure efficacy in a world of finite resources while accomodating distributed decision making?

Some one said to me this week that camp had not been his birth right.  This suggested to me that many may grow up thinking camp is a birth right.  If that is the case, then it may be difficult for some of us to understand that others grow up not expecting to go to camp or even know what that experience might provide.  Birth right is like my expression of Camp DNA.  More and more of us do not understand that birth right and/or do not have camp DNA in our family.  I want to change that fact.