Posts Tagged ‘Boy Scouts’

13
Dec/1013

Teaching Right From Wrong – A Boy Scouts Lesson

This past weekend I camped with the Boy Scouts.  On Saturday several classes were organized, including a hike to find the lost village.

As we hiked off the property and towards private property, the Assistant Scout Master leading the hike stopped our group just within the entrance to the property, and just after we passed two parked trucks.  He indicated he had passed two hunters with rifles on an earlier hike, and stopped to talk with them.

He said he told them we had permission to be on the property by the owners, and that there would be scouts on hikes all day within the woods.   He produced for them a letter the troop had received from the property owners granting us permission to be on their property, and showed us their letter.  He said he read the letter to the hunters, who shrugged, told him “oh well” and headed out into the woods anyway (without any permission to trespass let alone hunt on the owner’s private property and despite the fact that there would be some fifty or more hikers in the same woods).

The Assistant Scout Master told the boys that the troop had a decision to make when it planned the trip, and could have easily chosen to trespass on the private property, just like the hunters did.  The owners lived an hour away, and likely would never know.  He told them, however, that the Boy Scouts do things right, follow the rules, and seek permission to enter and use private property.

Not only did the scouts learn much about the ruins and remains of a colonial village maintained in the woods on private property, they also learned a great lesson on the difference between following the rules and doing the right thing, versus what most everyone else seems to do these days.

Once again, hats off to the Boy Scouts.

Here’s the link to a page that has a great set of questions to ask yourself when deciding if something is right or wrong – although geared to grades K-5, it is equally applicable to adults (who may not possess such a thought process).   The list can be found at the top of this site:

http://www.goodcharacter.com/YCC/DoingRight.html

Tags: , , , , ,

Filed under Uncategorized 13 Comments »

18
Oct/103

Keep Your Eyes On… Everything You Own!

Economy improving?  Property crimes under control.  I personally don’t think so.  Just in the last few days, I have determined that you can’t take your eyes off of anything, regardless of past practices.  What has changed?

Last week during a Boy Scouts meeting, as the meeting was underway, my son’s boy scout uniform (just back from having patches sewn on) was hanging in the back to bring home after the meeting.  In plain view with constant activity, someone stole his uniform off the rack.  Gone, without a trace (and ironically after I posted the virtues of Boy Scouting).  Now we must buy him a new uniform and all the badges and patches that accompany it.  Who would have figured that to happen?

Yesterday I was packing up the outside furniture for the season, and storing the outside items away.  When I went to disassemble our hammock in the front yard, I discovered a small problem.  No hammock.  Someone had stolen our hammock right from the front of our house, where it sat all season.  Perhaps for the metal (scrap value), perhaps to enjoy on their own property?  Either way a brazen larceny right from our front yard.

Now today I learned bicycles were stolen last evening from my mother-in-law’s house, moved just yesterday to be stored today for the season.  When they went to put them away they encountered a small problem – no more bikes to store.  Someone during the night came through her fence and made off with the bikes.

I searched tonight to determine if property crimes were occurring more frequently, and if so, why that was the case.  I didn’t find any meaningful information.  I did find an interesting article that made the loss of my son’s scout uniform pale in comparison to the loss of an entire boy scout troop’s gear.

Troop 154 stored all their gear in a troop trailer, and when thieves stole the troop’s trailer, they stole the entire gear inventory for the troop.  Here’s the link to their story:

http://www.c-dh.net/articles/2010/10/13/top_stories/02scouttroop.txt

Tags: , , , , ,

Filed under In General 3 Comments »

2
Sep/10215

Twelve Traits – The Source

As a few individuals accurately identified, the source of these traits instilled in young men worldwide is….

The Boy Scouts. http://www.scouting.org/

Trustworthy    Loyal     Helpful     Friendly     Courteous     Kind

Obedient     Cheerful     Thrifty      Brave      Clean      Reverent

In fairness, as I only have boys in our family, I was told the Girl Scouts have a very similar character building motive for young woman.  In searching for these traits tonight, I was moved by an article I found by Janet Lombardi posted on the Girl Scout’s website.  Although directed towards girls and the Girls Scouts, it is easily gender neutral in the message.

From her article “Sowing the Seeds of Character” -

“Q: Why is character-building so important today?
Our children are getting hit with a huge barrage of mixed messages. They are confronted with peers, not-so-great adult role models, and media where they hear about top CEOs who value money more than ethical behavior. They are receiving unfiltered information from the Internet, song lyrics, video games, and TV. Character-building is nothing new. Socrates and Aristotle spoke about it. They believed that “You are what you are because of what you do repeatedly.”    Exactly!

“Q: How does moral intelligence connect to character?
Moral intelligence consists of seven essential virtues—empathy, conscience, self-control, respect, kindness, tolerance, and fairness—that guide your character. Once you plant the virtues, you can teach girls the skills to empower them so they can provide their own moral compasses.”   We seem to only hear about moral compasses when they seem to go astray.

Here’s the link to her entire article:  http://www.girlscouts.org/for_adults/parenting/articles/sowing_character.asp

Tags: , , , , , ,

Filed under Beyond Fraud 215 Comments »