SCOUTING / CHARACTER / TOLERANCE
This post was inspired by my friend J who I have known for about 25 years.
In my youth, I was both a Cub Scout and Boy Scout. When my children were young, I became the Cubmaster of their troop and the boys enjoyed early scouting but moved in other directions in High School. There are some wonderful principles associated with scouting and for a young man, those principles can provide guideposts for living. In some ways, there has been a pushback against those traditional values but they are nevertheless worth remembering as generally good guidance for life.
The Scout Law which consolidates those principles is A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. Each of these principles is described further in the links if you have the time or inclination. Thank you to the website boyscouttrail.com for some great content! This is a challenging litany for what it is to be a young man and become a great adult. While there are many paths to adulthood, attending to such principles seems a great way to start.
While far from a religious post, here is another point of view that can simplify the challenges of life. The seven deadly sins (and the seven corresponding virtues if you see the world more through the eyes of what is worth doing versus what should I avoid) are interesting in some of the same ways I like the Boy Scout oath. As a person who is focused on self-improvement, I don’t find any of these sorts of things onerous or stifling. Rather they are wonderful reminders and guideposts to becoming a better me. For the interested here is a link to the seven deadly sins and virtues.
Today’s post is not about judgment nor the merits of these qualities. Instead, it is about introspection. Without delving into what these qualities mean in great detail, it is a worthwhile thought exercise to whether they apply to us, the people we choose to associate with, and the people we embrace as our leaders. I love the expression if you want to know what someone is like, just notice with whom and how they spend their time. The observation is simple, sensible, and simultaneously challenging in a world where, for the very first time in human history, we can electronically choose with whom we engage philosophically and intellectually.
We are living in an age of “cancel culture”. Can anyone live up to all of the principles all of the time? Of course not, that was never the point. My opinion about cancel culture is similar to what I feel about lots of things. I believe that making decisions by impulse, as a mob, based upon emotion is seldom a good thing. We can like or block anyone on planet earth with a few clicks. This seems like enormous power given to us to employ when we are at our weakest and most emotion-laden. In an earlier post, I pointed out that those impulses are great as we are approaching a hole or creep into a four-way intersection. The same processes, fueled by instinct perhaps should be relegated to the sidelines for matters that require more consideration such as who is worth listening to even if we do not agree. I believe that our primitive hard-wired brains are there for low-level sensory decisions. Based upon that, making decisions about important matters based upon the impulse and anger that accompanies slanted news, opinion merchants, or manipulative feeding of our primitive brains in a social media newsfeed is truly a dangerous way to operate.
Imbedding high-minded principles (like the scout oath) and making them part of our awareness creates forks in the road in our minds. If we take the time to CONSIDER our decisions rather than FOLLOWING our impulses, it is useful to imagine that these principles are “forks in the road” in the decision-making process our brains go through when we must make a decision that deserves contemplation.
So what made me think of the Scout’s Oath today? I have a great friend named J. He has been a friend I have come to know very well. We are not like-minded in all things but that is a wonderful thing. He embodies many of the elements of the Scout’s Oath. I never really thought about him that way until today. He and I met when our children were young and amongst their activities was the Cub Scouts. J ended up with multiple Eagle Scouts in his family. His children have very nice relationships with my children and each of them brought forward the qualities that today’s post was all about. J and his wife B are a wonderful team and they delivered to this world three very nice children into adulthood.
My wish is that none of them will ever face “cancel culture” because of something they may have said or done. Rather, I hope that people will step back and take the long view and realize that human beings are not wheat and chaff. The world needs good people and there is no such thing as 100% good or evil in my estimation. We all have so much more in common than what separates us. I have a couple of social circles with between 5 and 100 people. What makes these associations so wonderful is the range of the people who are involved. We are all different but have some common ground as long as we are willing to recognize (and sometimes laugh) about the differences. That is part of what makes those associations so wonderful. Taking the time can make it a beautiful day. Today’s song is all about that. It is also an EXCUSE to FINALLY reference one of my absolute favorite bands of all time! Hope to see you tomorrow, thanks for reading, and leave a comment about what you think about his post. I NEVER need anyone to agree with me, this is just one solitary guy’s take on things.
Here, here Mark! My oldest, Aidan, is 15 and about to earn Eagle. The boys in his Troop recite the Scout Oath at every meeting. It's a good reminder for them what their 'goals' in life should be-- do they always live those virtutes? No. But, it's a reminder and a guiding rod for living!