Keystones of a Scout: The 10 Virtues that Make a Scout | Chivalry

 

“In the old days the Knights were the real Scouts and their rules were very much like the Scout Law which we have now. The Knights considered their honor their most sacred possession. They would not do a dishonorable thing, such as telling a lie or stealing. They would rather die than do it. They were always ready to fight and to be killed in upholding their king, or their religion, or their honor. Each Knight had a small following of a squire and some men-at-arms, just as our Patrol Leader has his Second (or Assistant) and four or five Scouts. …  You Scouts cannot do better than follow the example of the Knights.”

So said Robert Baden-Powell in the book that started the Scouting Movement, Scouting for Boys. In this book the Knights are held up as the ideal of Chivalry that Scouts should strive for. Chivalry was given very high importance by the founder of the Scouting Movement. In essence, Baden-Powell said that us Scouts should be modern-day Knights.

But that was one hundred years ago. These days, not only are many declaring that Chivalry is dead, histories are being written that many times portray the Knights in a much darker light than that in which our forefathers saw them.  If you read some ‘histories’, you would think that Knights were in reality nothing but robbers and bullies. And you will hear that the chivalrous attitude of our forefathers was ‘unenlightened’ and degrading to women.

So where does that leave us Scouts now? Are we leftovers from the evolution of society who are destined to be eventually forgotten? Or should we continue to adapt with the times and call chivalry a thing of the past? I profoundly disagree. I believe that chivalry isn’t just a part of the history of Scouting, I believe that chivalry is integral to the ideal of Scouting and is, in fact, a Scout Keystone. What does this look like?

Scout’s Scrapbook (8-20-12): Success

Today’s edition of The Scout’s Scrapbook is a quotation from Sir Robert Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting) on how a Scout looks on Success:

This quote excellently captures the spirit in which a Scout takes on life and looks on success. Scouts know that nothing worth having in the world comes for free. As I once heard a wise man put it: “Anything worth anything, costs you something.”

Keystones of a Scout: The 10 Virtues That Make a Scout | Exploration

“To meet their spirit of adventure I held up for their ideal the doings of backwoodsmen and knights, adventurers and explorers, as the heroes for them to follow.” ~ Baden-Powell

I have particularly enjoyed doing the research for this third installment of the Keystones of a Scout series: Exploration.

“Very few fellows learn these things when they are living in civilized places, because they have comfortable houses, and soft beds to sleep in. Their food is prepared for them, and when they want to know the way, they just ask a policeman.

Well, when those fellows try to go scouting or exploring, they find themselves quite helpless. Take even your sports “hero” and put him down in the wilderness, alongside a fellow trained in camping, and see which can look after himself. High batting averages are not much good to him there. He is only a “tenderfoot”.” ~ Baden-Powell

You don’t need to dig far into the history of Scouting to see how much pioneers, adventurers, and explorers have influenced the Scouting movement. This is perhaps the real reason that most of us joined the Scouting movement, is it not? Scouting promised us adventure. Scouting promised us camping trips, canoe trips, hiking, rafting. Scouting promised us the exploration of the wilderness. 

Keystones of a Scout: The 10 Virtues That Make a Scout | Endurance

 

 

 

Yesterday, I introduced a new series that we’re going to do here at Scouting Rediscovered.You can read the introduction by clicking here.

 
The first Keystone virtue of the Scout is Endurance. While for the most part, I do not have a particular order that I’m covering the Keystones in, I think it is a good idea to start out with endurance as it is necessary to posses this Keystone if you are going to achieve all of the others.

 

The Definition of Endurance

 

 

So what is endurance? Well, to start with, Baden-Powell (the founder of Scouting) wrote a good deal about Endurance in his book, Scouting for Boys. In it he said:

 

A Scout saying is “Never say die till you’re dead”— and if he acts up to this, it will pull him out of many a bad place when everything seems to be going wrong for him. It means a mixture of pluck, patience, and strength, which we call “endurance.”

 

If you’ve never ran across this term in older literature, you might be wondering what ‘pluck’ means in this context. Well, ‘pluck’ is an older expression which simply means: “courage or resolution in the face of difficulties”. I think this definition of Endurance that Baden-Powell gives is a very good one. It means that a Scout doesn’t give up what he has started. Too often, boys have great intentions and start something something new (like Scouting), only to quit later on whenever some difficulties arise or they get tired of it.

 

Baden-Powell followed up his definition of Endurance by giving an example of a Hunter and Scout whose party was attacked and he was cut off in Africa many years ago. This man was able to survive the ordeal by cleverly out-maneuvering those who were trying to kill him and survived many days in extremely adverse conditions by the strength of his will and his physical endurance.

 

Indeed, Baden-Powell mainly emphasized physical endurance in his book. He said this could be cultivated by anyone who was willing to exercise properly and live a healthy lifestyle. However, having mental endurance and will-power are even more important aspects of endurance than the physical side, for if you don’t have endurance of will, being in great shape physically will be of no use.

 

What makes Endurance a Scout Keystone?

 

Why do I choose Endurance to be one of the ten Scout Keystones? There are several reasons for this. This first is one I alluded to earlier. A true Scout doesn’t give up Scouting when thing get tough. He doesn’t shy away at the first sign of difficulties. I’m not going to lie, Scouting is hard work. However, we are Scouts because we realize that the hard work is worth it, and we enjoy the Adventure of Scouting which is made up of both challenges and triumphs.

 

I don’t say this just about being a member of an organization, such as the Boy Scouts of America. Scouting goes beyond this. True Scouting is a way of life, and a true Scout keeps on Scouting long after he has left any organization.

 

Scouts explore new things and push back the boundaries of what is known and the commonly accepted level of achievement. A vital aspect of this is the virtue of Endurance. A Scout cannot give up or quit; his spirit of discovery and adventure doesn’t allow him.

 

How to cultivate endurance in your everyday life

 

The quality of physical endurance isn’t built over night, and neither is mental endurance. Both are achieved by constant practice and application in your everyday life. If you commit yourself to building the virtue of Endurance in yourself, you will steadily improve more and more each day.

 

The first step to growing your endurance is to watch what you say. Don’t tell someone that you are going to do something unless you really mean it. It is easy to fall into the ‘good intentions’ habit. You say you are going to do this or that all day long, but you never quite get around to doing it although you ‘mean’ to. Get into the habit of doing everything you say you will do, and don’t say that you are going to take on something unless you really mean to carry it out.

 

The second step is to get support from you family or close friends. When things get really tough and difficulties just keep mounting in front of you, it is very helpful to have people around you who support you and encourage you. They’re not there to remove your difficulties, that’s your job. They’re there to encourage you to stick with it. They’re there to give you moral support.

 

There are many other little ways that you can increase your Endurance, but I don’t have time here to go into each one, and really the best way to learn is by doing. As you put endurance into practice, you will get better and better at it.

 

Conclusion

 

So there it is in a nutshell; the first Keystone of a Scout is his Endurance. A Scout doesn’t give up, he sticks to it through thick and thin; rain and shine. It sounds simple enough, but it is surprising difficult to put into practice. I hope you will take the effort to improve your Endurance today; physically, but most importantly: mentally.

 

Thanks for reading this post. It might have been a bit long, but the subject is very important, and one that we need to take seriously as Scouts. Do you have any comments, thoughts, or questions? I’d love to hear them!

 

I want this to get out to as many Scouts as possible, so please help by sharing this post. You can easily share this on Facebook, Twitter, and etc. by clicking the little icons below this post.

 

If you don’t want to miss the rest of the installments of this series, just put your email in the little box to the right on the home page, and you will automatically get an email each time a new post is published.

 

Thanks again! Scout on, my friends!

Keystones of a Scout: The 10 Virtues That Make a Scout | Introduction

Today I’m going to introduce a new, ten-part series that I will be running here on Scouting Rediscovered. There is no better list of adjectives that describe what a Scout stands for better than the Scout Law:

A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent.

In my own Quest to rediscover Scouting, I have gone through many writings of Scout Leaders from the past, and have learned more and more about the essence of what Scouting is and the essence of what a true Scout is. I wanted to know: At his core, what is the true essence of a Scout? What is the Spirit of the Scout? In fact, this is the very reason I set off on my quest to rediscover Scouting; I wanted to find the essence of what a Scout is, and I wanted to become that.

So, as I dug deeper, and uncovered more about Scouting’s roots, I have come to form an understanding of what this essence is. And, the more I understand, the more I was able to put this into words and define it. This is what Scouting Rediscovered is about. I want to share this with you, and I want you to join me in the quest.

I have come to see the spirit of the Scout as summarized by ten words. I call them ‘keystones’. The meaning of the word ‘keystone’ finds its roots in architecture. In building an arch out of stone blocks, there is always one critical block needed at the very top of the arch which holds everything together. If you were to remove this keystone, the entire arch would collapse.

That is how I views the words which summarize for me the essence of a Scout. Without them, the title of ‘Scout’ is just an empty word. With them, the purpose and meaning of a Scout becomes clear and defined. These Keystones are:

1. Endurance
2. Self-Discipline
3. Exploration
4. Observation
5. Deduction
6. Initiative
7. Ingenuity
8. Chivalry
9. Duty
10. Honor

I will make one post for each of these Keystones. And these will be published every day, or every other day. I hope that you will join me in this discovery. Please leave a comment with your feedback and any questions/additions that you might have. I am passionate about this and want to have as many Scouts hear about this as I can. If you find these posts valuable, please pass them along to your friends and your Troop! Using the little buttons at the bottom of the post, you can share this on Twitter, Facebook, and many other Social Media sites.

Thank you for reading!

-Yours in Scouting