The Two Left Wellies

As Scouts, we are asked to make the Scout Promise.  This is quite a simple, but very powerful statement:

On my honour, I promise to do my best

To do my Duty to God and to the Queen

To help other people

And to keep the Scout Law.

It’s quite clever in that you are not promising to ALWAYS do the things in the promise, but that you will always TRY to do the things in the promise.  It recognises that we will all fail sometimes but that we are going to do our best to meet up to the promise and law.

So, what is the Scout Law?  The Law is a collection of seven simple statements, which collectively state what it is to be a Scout today.  There have been some minor tweaks over the years, but these are little more than changes to the words and terms that we used to use.  The Scout law is this:

1. A Scout is to be trusted.
2. A Scout is loyal.
3. A Scout is friendly and considerate.
4. A Scout belongs to the world-wide family of Scouts.
5. A Scout has courage in all difficulties.
6. A Scout makes good use of time and is careful of possessions and property.
7. A Scout has self-respect and respect for others.

Before we invest new members into the Scout Group, we go through the Promise and Law and ensure that the new member understands what they are about to sign up for.

My intention is to take each of the Laws, and Sections of the Promise – and break them down to explain them.

 So, let’s start with that first Scout Law:

A SCOUT IS TO BE TRUSTED

 It’s no surprise that this is the first law.  This, above all others, starts to define what a Scout is.

The word Trust comes from the Middle English truste, which may in turn have come from the Old Norse word traust, meaning confidence. 

So what does it mean – to be trusted?  Well, if I asked you to look after my big pile of jam doughnuts and not to eat any, and you (as a Scout) said that you would, then I should be happy in going off to get large bottles of fizzy drink to go with my doughnuts, knowing that when I got back I wouldn’t just have a pile of crumbs and someone sat by them with their mouth covered in sugar as they had stuffed them all in.

It also means that if I ask you if these trainers that I am about to buy look alright that when you say “they’re really good” then I can be happy that I am not going to look silly when I wear them next (and that people will also like the fact that they have flashing lights on the heels)

It also means that if I were to say “we’re going camping in Dorset, do you want to come?” and you say “I must check with my parents” that you will check with your parents (also, that you will tell us if you can come – but that’s the subject for another Law). 

I would also add that “to be trusted” means that if you were to say “I can’t come out tonight I have to stay in and do my homework”  that you are actually staying in – and not just going out with some other friends to a party.

So be trusted is quite a heavy responsibility to take on.  As a Scout – can you be TRUSTED?

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?

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.

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!

A SCOUT HAS COURAGE IN ALL DIFFICULTIES

This is a fairly straightforward Law – to have courage – but in ALL difficulties?

One meaning of the word courage that I have found is “the quality of mind or or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain etc without difficulty or fear; bravery”

 

But before you start thinking that in order to meet the requirements of this Law, every Scout must have the sort of attitude that Superman would have been envious of, have some bravery in it.  This law is not saying that you have to be fear-less – it’s OK to be nervous or scared about a situation or being asked to do something (example: I’m not very happy with heights, my friend doesn’t like speaking in front of a room of strangers, another friend doesn’t like climbing trees). 

 

In my case, I don’t go looking for climbing walls and abseiling towers and cliff faces to climb to “conquer my fear”, but if I’m with my Scout Troop and one of my Scouts has got scared on a climbing wall (and it’s safe for me to do so) I will climb up to help them.  At that point, I take courage and do it.

 

As another example: If I’m walking with my Scouts and we get to somewhere that we didn’t expect (I wouldn’t say “lost” – others might though )and it starts to get dark and it begins to rain,  this Law really comes into effect.  It’s about not just sitting down saying “I’m cold and lost and I’m not going any further” it’s about saying “OK, we need to get out of the rain and work out where we are; let’s get a plan together”.

 

Before 1968 there was a much bigger set of Scout laws, and this used to say “A Scout smiles and Whistles under all circumstances”.  Whilst the intention is the same – to provide the Scout with a mask of courage; it is very difficult to smile and whistle at the same time!

 

So your challenge to meet this law… how will you react when you are asked to do something that you don’t really want to do?

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).

 A SCOUT HAS SELF-RESPECT AND RESPECT FOR OTHERS

The last of the Scout Laws; a Scout has self-respect and respect for others. 

 So what does RESPECT mean?  The dictionary term (the one that we’re interested in) defined respect as being “the state of being honoured or esteemed”. 

 To me, to have respect for others means listening to their point of view; even if you disagree with it (and that’s fine) it’s not about saying “you’re wrong”, but more “I see things differently”.  As an example, I may state that “Dangermouse”* was the best children’s cartoon ever – you may disagree and believe that it was “Pokemon” (I wouldn’t say you were wrong… but you are!)  If someone IS wrong (say, they state that the answer to 2 + 3 is having respect for others doesn’t mean that you immediately shout them down, show yourself to be superior, or make fun of them.  It is about asking them how they arrived at that statement – it could have been a simple mistake.

 Respect for yourself should not be any more challenging, but it can be.  You’ll note that there has been no laws about exercise, healthy eating, or health in general – and that’s because of this law.  Self respect is about making sure that you – as a machine – are properly maintained and looked after so you will work properly; it’s about you making sure that you make the best of yourself which may mean studying properly and not just wasting your talents by mucking about.

 *Dangermouse was a British cartoon made by Cosgrove/Hall in the 1980’s.  It featured the voices of David Jason and Terry Scott.  For more information on this most excellent of series, go to www.dangermouse.org