If George Washington and Robert E. Lee were young men today, they would be Boy Scouts and enthusiastic supporters of Scouting, as I am.
In fact, in his Sept. 1796 letter to Alexander Hamilton, George Washington himself promoted youth assemblies and behavior strikingly similar to Boy Scout camporees that would take place 125 years in the future: “…but that which would render it of the highest importance, in my opinion, is that at the juvenile period of life, when friendships are formed and habits established that stick by one, young men from different parts of the United States would be assembled together, and would by degrees discover that there was not that cause for those jealousies and prejudices which one part of the Union had imbibed against another.”
In my literature class recently, we were discussing how a nation moves from savagery to civilization. “Is anyone a Boy Scout?” our teacher asked. I replied, “I’m an Eagle Scout.” He asked me to recite the twelve points of the Scout Law for the class, then followed-up with a question about how these ideals might be connected to the transition from savagery to civilization. The twelve points are virtues, simple action-oriented standards for individual behavior, which by extension, lead to advancement of communities and nations. …show more content…
The ideals are universally valued, and many are seen in the culture I have learned about at WLU: Trustworthy and Loyal are similar to the WLU Honor System; Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, and Cheerful are reflected in the WLU Speaking Tradition. As Eagle Scout Alvin Townley (WLU ‘97) said in his book Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts, these “timeless ideals…a common set of values makes us what we are as a
In fact, in his Sept. 1796 letter to Alexander Hamilton, George Washington himself promoted youth assemblies and behavior strikingly similar to Boy Scout camporees that would take place 125 years in the future: “…but that which would render it of the highest importance, in my opinion, is that at the juvenile period of life, when friendships are formed and habits established that stick by one, young men from different parts of the United States would be assembled together, and would by degrees discover that there was not that cause for those jealousies and prejudices which one part of the Union had imbibed against another.”
In my literature class recently, we were discussing how a nation moves from savagery to civilization. “Is anyone a Boy Scout?” our teacher asked. I replied, “I’m an Eagle Scout.” He asked me to recite the twelve points of the Scout Law for the class, then followed-up with a question about how these ideals might be connected to the transition from savagery to civilization. The twelve points are virtues, simple action-oriented standards for individual behavior, which by extension, lead to advancement of communities and nations. …show more content…
The ideals are universally valued, and many are seen in the culture I have learned about at WLU: Trustworthy and Loyal are similar to the WLU Honor System; Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, and Cheerful are reflected in the WLU Speaking Tradition. As Eagle Scout Alvin Townley (WLU ‘97) said in his book Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America’s Eagle Scouts, these “timeless ideals…a common set of values makes us what we are as a