The April work weekend was very damp, forcing the candidates and brothers into the dining hall for much of the afternoon during which the chief described the OA to the assembled Scouts.  I remember having been in similar situations where I had to fill time with stories and such and at first I smiled at our shared pain.  That is I smiled until his talking hit the 1:15 mark and my compunction against commentary dropped and wrote “stop talking” about 30 times on the Chief’s Facebook wall.  He stopped talking after about 95 minutes and then the true reason for the wall of speech became obvious.  The candidates were supposed to happily and silently toil to set up the camp as part of the Ordeal, instead they undertook the far more difficult task of happily and silently toiling to remain conscious.  They will be our lodge’s greatest generation.