will still be your friend.

LDC1 is over.

It was good I guess. Idealistic me would have wanted more out of it, but we all know that wasn't going to happen. I didn't feel it made as big as impact on the sec 2s as LDC1 last year. Or maybe it's just me. I feel at home when I'm around the current sec 3s, but less so when I'm around my own direct juniors. I'm sorry? Am I sorry? I don't know. While I as your senior do want you guys to grow into responsible and capable young men, I simply don't feel the connection I do with the other cohort. I tend to keep comparing you guys to them, and holding you to their standards. I guess that's wrong of me. Every cohort has their strengths and weaknesses. Yours is very different and my disappointment is mainly due to my expecting you to be like them instead of yourselves. Perhaps the age difference is responsible as well. Three years is a lot of time to mature. Maybe that explains why I'm closer to the sec 4s and 3s rather than you guys. And I think it's also harder because I have to decide between being a senior and a friend. As a friend I would never yell at you guys like that. I wouldn't make you run around to meet timings. But that is required of me as a senior, and I cannot reconcile the two. I think one problem that we as seniors have is the desire to make our juniors turn out exactly like us, regardless of whether our style suits your personality as a cohort or not. Your attitude, your unity, your standard of drill and level of skill is a direct representation of our success as seniors, and all too often we focus on forcing that on you rather than developing you as individuals. We forget that you are people, not just objects we yell at to 'refine'. And I'm sorry if I've treated you as such. In a place where the "success" of a cohort and thus their admin is often measured by the time taken for them to pitch a tent, or by their standard of drill, or by the number of Founder's Men, it is easy to objectify them as 'things' which are 'good' or 'bad'. And for that, I am sorry. While I do want to see you guys excel in areas like drill, adventure, and the other stuff we teach you, it isn't right of me to judge you by your competencies in these things. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If you can't do drill properly, so be it. If you can't pitch a tent in two minutes, so be it. I will still love you as a senior. I will still be your friend.

The object of the Boys' Brigade shall be: the advancement of Christ's Kingdom among Boys and the promotion of habits of Obedience, Reverence, Discipline, Self-Respect, and all that tends toward a true Christian manliness. 

-Jont