The Vault
The Wednesday night show, The Vault, encouraged us to look towards our past, present, and future as an Order. As the three Arrowmen were guided around the stage, they learned from historic artifacts about the history of the OA. They saw the beginnings of our ceremonies performed in black robes. Also present was a podium used by Dr. E. Urner Goodman himself to speak many years ago. We discovered how the Order of the Arrow came to help preserve the traditions of the American Indian, along with how we keep doing so even to this very day. Viewers gained a better appreciation for our history as our walk through the vault showed us how far we have come in our 103 years.
Then, the second segment of the show brought us back to the present with the continued story of David, the salad-burning Arrowman, who during this show was volunteering in a soup kitchen. Volunteering at places like David with friends is something that many members of the audience could relate to.
Finally, we turned toward the future in the keynote address from National Vice Chief Michael Kipp. He gave viewers an optimistic message about the future of the OA, and how we can take our program to new heights as we open our membership to other Scouting programs. However, Kipp reminded the audience that the OA’s program does not improve on its own. It will take the service of Arrowmen everywhere maintain and grow the traditions of our Order – or as we heard in Tuesday’s show, to keep the flame burning.