Posted by: Birch Rock Camp

The war of inspection is never won through pity alone. No cabin is ever merely handed the sacred title of “best” through some ‘we haven’t won yet’ malarkey. The battle is ruthless, cut-throat even. If the senior campers were to win every day, then so be it! The lower campers fight for their place on the battlefield, and always manage to stay in it. Nothing is granted, everything must be earned. The campers hunker down in the trenches formed between their bed frames, tucking in sheet, then sheet, then blanket and then a dust cover! These blankets are put on so tightly that even if Harry Houdini was alive and trapped in the bed, he’d be unable to free himself. But, you’re a fool if you think it’s just the beds that are made, oh no, there’s so much more; floors swept, porches clear, rafters organized, under the bed boxes hidden, shoes lined-up (heels out), trash emptied, and clutter be gone! Even if all of this is done, and a singular cabin light is on, then the cabin is out of the race entirely! This happens every day, twice a day. Why do we do this? You may ask. One reason, the spoken reason, is pride. The pride we have for our cabin, for our stuff, and in ourselves, shown through this rigorous display of cleanliness. But another reason, the more elusive reason, is glory. The glory of being the best! History is written by it’s victors, said Winston Churchill, and we know this to be true. There are 82 NBA games in a season, our 48 days of inspection are just as competitive, difficult and are in all ways equally challenging! This is all to say, that when you read that your child won Best Bed, or was part of the best cabin… know they did something spectacular. As our campers know all too well: the cleaning is easy, but it’s the winning that’s hard. Today’s best cabin was Walker, and Best bed was Rustam “Rusty” N. Super Camper was Oliver S.

Written by John Reisert