S.P. & Law – A scout makes good use of his time and is careful of possessions and property
There is a saying “The Devil makes work for idle hands” – that is to say, if you’ve nothing to do, you’ll find something, but it probably won’t be very helpful. So, a Scout is always doing good? Well, not exactly.
It would be wrong to read this as a Scout is always helping other people. What it says is that when a Scout finishes doing a job they think “what should I be doing now – and if nothing what could I do now” and do that – which might be reading, doing homework, playing a game.
What it is saying is that if I asked you to help me put the tent up you would do so – not just wander off and play on the climbing frame. If you got stuck on a tricky bit, you’d try and work it out or ask a Leader – not just wander off and leave it until someone noted it was still laying on the ground (or worse in a bramble bush).
This leads to the next part of this law – is careful of possessions and property. It means that just because a tent pole is long with a pointy bit at the end it doesn’t double up as a Javelin. It means that if you were playing with the Troop Football and you’d finished playing you would return the ball to where you got it from – not leave it in the middle of the field.
Of course this applies not just to other people’s stuff but yours as well – it is ALL possessions and property.
But it should also be noted that whilst you are being careful of possessions, you should not be afraid to use something for the purpose it was designed for. It’s no use having a football if you never kick it for example, or a full-suspension mountain bike if you’re only ever going to cycle on the roads (or not cycle at all).
S.P. & Law – A Scout has courage in all difficulties
This is a fairly straightforward Law – to have courage – but in ALL difficulties?
S.P. & Law – A Scout is a member of the World-Wide family of Scouts
When you head down to your Scout Hall on Troop night, you know that you are part of a group of Scouts. When you’re invested, you are given badges that reflect your membership to the District, County and to the wider family of Scouts.
It’s worth knowing how big that family is. Scouting is active in 216 countries and territories across the world. Globally there is a membership of over 28 million! Even in the UK 400,000 young people aged 6-25 are members. Oh, and in addition there are the many leaders and helpers that run the programmes too!
S.P. & Law – a Scout is Friendly and considerate
This law is a little more complex than the previous two as it is saying that you must be “something AND something” and that these two somethings are linked together.
So what do the words “Friendly” and “Considerate” mean on their own? To me friendly means “approachable”, “nice”, “on the same side” (amongst other things). Considerate means “Thinks of others”.
So in a nutshell, this is someone who is helpful, friendly and does what others want them to do? Well yes, but not really. This is someone who can be approached to do something but will think of others before they do what is asked.
As an example: you’re having a party at your house and your friend asks you to turn the volume up on the stereo as the music is too quiet. Whilst you might want to agree with him, you also think of the neighbours next door (will it be too loud and disturb them) – so you may decide not to turn up the volume, but could explain to your friend why.
As another example: you don’t really want to go to Scouts but your parents make you go anyway. Whilst the easiest (and selfish route) for you may be to be disruptive during the evening (after all, *you* didn’t want to go), you also think of how the other Scouts will enjoy the evening – and the effort that the Leaders have put in to making the evening interesting for the troop. Instead, being friendly and considerate, you take part in the evening and make the best of it… and possibly enjoy yourself too.
I think it’s important to also recognise that the Law doesn’t state “A Scout is Friendly and considerate of others”; as a Scout you also need to take into consideration your own needs as well. There’s no point in just going out with your mates every night because they ask you to if it means that your homework doesn’t get done.
Firelighting!
This is such a cool piccy, summing up what Scouting is all about. I’m typing this with the smell of woodsmoke lingering in the air.
We got to Lees Wood campsite and quickly went through the basics with the Scouts – the triangle of fire and its importance; what the steps for making a fire were (kindling, twigs, wood) and the amounts that they needed to gather (two handfuls, one arm full, etc) and then sent them into the woods to get the stuff.
We were hands on regarding instruction, helping them to create their fire pyramids before lighting; but hands-off in regard to correcting the pyramids or when they put the matches in the wrong place. But very soon we had 4 small fires going and we pooled them to make the one big fire. We then toasted Marshmallows and Toast on green sticks.
For many, we noticed that striking a match was a lesson in itself. With the exception of 1 Scout (who just didn’t want to join in… not sure why not, or what he hoped to gain by coming along) everyone – Leaders and Scouts – had a great evening. The time just flew by and everyone left the site happy, content and with a shared experience.
What a superb evening that the picture just doesn’t do justice to.
The Scout Promise and Law – A Scout is Loyal
This is an interesting second Law, as to some extent it can be understood in a number of ways. Other words that could be used for Loyal include “tied to”, “allegiance”, “commitment”, “faithfulness”.
To keep it simple – if you support a football team and you follow their matches, celebrate when they win, feel a bit sad when they lose – then it could be said that you are loyal to your football team; you don’t just follow the game of football and not really switch from team to team because they are winning.
But what does it mean for a Scout to be Loyal? Loyal to what exactly?
The Scout Law doesn’t say “A Scout is Loyal to his Patrol, his Troop, etc” – so it must be bigger than that. To me, there is a need for a Scout to be Loyal to his Patrol, Troop, Group, District, County and to the Association – after all, you wear the membership badges on your uniform.
However – and this I think is the important bit – you are also loyal to what makes Scout a Scout; showing the world that you are a Scout, even when you don’t wear the uniform.
I suppose as we look at what it means to be loyal we should also look at what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that we follow blindly – if the manager of your football team said that he wanted all the fans to send the club all their left socks so they only ever wore right socks I doubt many would do it (but you can bet a few fans will!).
It also doesn’t mean that because we have loyalty to something we work to ignore everything else. In our lives we may be loyal to many things – clubs, schools, family – so there is a need to consider what the impact may be of doing something over another (such as going to the disco instead of Scouts).
If “A Scout is to be trusted” is the most important of the Scout Laws, then “A Scout is Loyal” is probably the most complicated.
So – what are you loyal to?
