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Words of Wisdom Wednesdays: Cheerful

CharlesN — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:58:34 +0000

“No words can do justice to their courage and their cheerfulness. To be brave cheerily, to be patient with a glad heart, to stand the agonies of thirst with laughter and song, to walk beside Death for months and never be sad- that’s the spirit that makes courage worth having. I loved my men.” - Lord Robert Baden-Powell

Being able to keep a smile on your face, even in the midst of adversities, is truly admirable. Think of a time when you just weren’t having fun. Say, for example, camping in a rain storm and everything inside the tent got soaked. Were you angry? Did someone try to cheer you up?

Even though times may be tough, a cheerful company lightens up the atmosphere. Remember, attitude is very important.

Words of Wisdom Wednesdays: Obedient

CharlesN — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 06:01:23 +0000

“A Scout follows the rules of his family, school and troop. He obeys the laws of his community and country. If he thinks these rules and laws are unfair, he tries to have them changed in an orderly manner rather than disobey them.” – The Scout Handbook

Obedience is a vital part of being a Scout. What do you think happens if you disobeyed your Scout Leaders? When given a directive to do something, it often means that it is very important and that you should do it. If you don’t, things will not get done and you are left with disorganization.

But obedience does not mean that you should mindlessly obey every order. If you obey every order without reasoning through, then you may in fact be doing something wrong or illegal. You should think about what you are asked to do, and if you believe that you need an explanation for the task, you should ask for reasoning. If you believe there is a better way to resolve a problem, bring it up. If you are not dealing with an emergency, maybe it’s best that you seek additional advice from others.

It is important to obey orders, but it is even more important to know why you should obey them.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Kind

CharlesN — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 21:16:45 +0000

The Words of Wisdom Wednesday series is composed of anecdotal segments to inspire and supplement a Scout’s personal development, building core values and moral character.

Sounds familiar? Sure it does. The Golden Rule states: “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.” You can also find it in the Bible: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” [Matthew 7:12] Think of how you felt when someone treated you badly. Now think of how you felt when you were treated with kindliness.

When you are kind to others, they feel good about you. When others are sad, sometimes it only takes some kindhearted deeds to cheer them up. And after all, if you can put a smile on someone’s face, you feel happy yourself too!

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Courteous

CharlesN — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:05:16 +0000

The Words of Wisdom Wednesday series is composed of anecdotal segments to inspire and supplement a Scout’s personal development, building core values and moral character.

“A Scout is courteous.” – Sir Robert Baden-Powell

This week we focus on how to be courteous to others. For most of us, we learn courtesy at home and at school when we are young. We practice being courteous every day. And as we grow up, we do not think of being courteous as a chore or among the list of things to do on a daily basis. It becomes a part of us.

Being courteous is simple, but has a positive effect on others. For example, you are being courteous when you properly greet someone. Using titles such as, “Mister”, “Misses”, or “Miss”, is a form of courtesy and respect. The practice of opening the door for others is another form of courtesy. Can you identify other forms of courtesy?

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Friendly

CharlesN — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:14:02 +0000

The Words of Wisdom Wednesday series is composed of anecdotal segments to inspire and supplement a Scout’s personal development, building core values and moral character.

Continuing down the Scout Law, it is apparent why “Friendly” is memorialized right below “Helpful”. They go hand-in-hand. Although they have similar characteristics, they are, nonetheless, quite different. Are you being friendly when you help someone? Of course. But are you helpful when you are a friend to others? Not necessarily.

Being helpful means that you need to take that extra step. However, to be friendly, we must be so at all times. You should not just be friendly in the morning and be bad-tempered in the afternoon. It is, therefore, more general to be friendly. It is continuous. It is a reflection of your attitude toward others.

A Scout is a friend to others. They include your fellow Scouts, friends, family, colleagues, strangers, people of different nationality… everyone. Today, we live in a very interconnected world. We are able to travel across the vast oceans within hours. We need to try to understand each other better.

According to the World Organization of the Scout Movement, there are more than 30 million Scouts in 161 countries. Scouts from all over the world are part of the same vision that Lord Robert Baden-Powell had envisioned for Scouting. We are all part of the Brotherhood of Scouting.

Let me leave you with two questions to ponder over this week. What do you think it means to be a part of the World Brotherhood of Scouting? Can you identify some signs of friendship that people use in your community, in your country, and in our world?

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Helpful

ScoutingNewsStaff — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:12:45 +0000

The Words of Wisdom Wednesday series is composed of anecdotal segments to inspire and supplement a Scout’s personal development, building core values and moral character.

“An animal has been made by God just as you have been. He is therefore a fellowcreature. He has not the power of speaking our language, but can feel pleasure or pain just as we can, and he can feel grateful to anyone who is kind to him. A Scout is always helpful to people who are crippled or blind or deaf and dumb; so he is good also to these dumb fellow-creatures of ours.” -Sir Robert Baden-Powell

Helpful is the third character trait of a Scout. When Baden-Powell founded Scouting, he intended that every Scout be helpful toward both the environment and people alike. He recognized that a Scout should help those that could not help themselves and that a Scout should give the voiceless a voice.

So when you do a service project, help a person in need of assistance, or speak out for someone else, you are in fact upholding a part of the Scout Law.

Trail to Eagle Scout App

ScoutingNewsStaff — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 06:00:36 +0000

Following the great theme of great Scout Apps hitting the market lately, another is rolling out.

Trail to Eagle is a Boy Scout reference for your smartphone available on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 7. With the Trail to Eagle a Scout can quickly look up the Scout Oath or Promise, Scout Law, Scout Motto, Scout Slogan, or Outdoor Code. They can track their progress along their trail to Eagle, including all ranks; Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, Eagle are available. Scouts can also review merit badge requirements.

After test driving Trail to Eagle, the features are easy to use. The Merit Badge requirements are easy to access and rather complete, however the new Welding MB is not listed. Tracking progress is accomplished by checking boxes next to the requirements. Having the ability to type in completed merit badges for each rank would enhance the functionality.

About the Developer

Peter is an Assistant Scoutmaster with Troop 10 in Augusta, GA. He’s a software developer by trade and had been interested in developing an application for Android and iOS but could never find anything too motivating. One day he noticed that mis son and other boys carried smartphones more often than their Scoutbooks which made him think that it would be much easier to get the Scouting materials infront of the boys if he put it on their smartphones. Trail2Eagle was born. Improvements are in the works including adding a social/achievement part to the Scout app by integrating it with Facebook and/or Twitter.

The great thing about Peter’s pursuits into the now broad field of Scout apps is the technology he used to build Trail2Eagle. His podcast about the technology can be found on Hanselminutes.com. He plans on doing a series of blog posts with more detail.

ScoutingNews would also like to thank Peter and Trail to Eagle for being a sponsor of this website. His support in bringing great news about the Scouting movement is greatly appreciated!

Download Trail to Eagle for Android.

Download Trail To Eagle for iPhone.

Download Trail To Eagle for iPad.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Loyal

ScoutingNewsStaff — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:55:52 +0000

“Loyalty is a feature in a boy’s character that inspires boundless hope.” -Sir Robert Baden-Powell

Last week, we introduced what it means to be trustworthy – the first point of the Scout Law. This week, we focus our attention on what it means to be loyal.

What does Sir Baden-Powell mean by saying that a person’s character “inspires boundless hope?” More importantly, what is hope? Perhaps we think of “hope” as something that we want to happen or an event that we wish to occur. Let’s go back to basics and flip open the dictionary… or an online dictionary since we live in the digital age. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “hope” as a “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.” It also defines “hope” as “trust” or “reliance“.

Okay, let’s apply those definitions to the quote. As a Scout, we are charged with leadership positions and duties at every Scout activity. Each Scout is responsible for certain duties that help the Scout Unit grow and become successful. If these duties are not performed, the expected result does not materialize. Each Scout must be loyal to his peers and to his Scout Unit. Without loyalty, no Scout Unit will succeed. This is why loyalty is codified into our Scout Law. While a Scout must be loyal to his peers and Scout Unit, so too must he be loyal to his family, good friends, and worthwhile deeds in life.

Now we can see the big picture. When loyalty becomes a person’s character trait, others can expect positive results and rely on that person to do things right. And when a person is loyal, others will be inspired to put their trust in that person.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: Trustworthy

ScoutingNewsStaff — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 17:17:22 +0000

“A Scout’s honor is to be trusted. If he were to violate his honor by telling a lie, or by cheating, or by not doing exactly a given task, when trusted on his honor to do so, he may be directed to hand over his scout badge.” -Sir Robert Baden-Powell

In the next few weeks, we will examine the Scout Law. This week, we focus on “Trustworthy”.

What does it mean to be trustworthy? Think back to one of your Scout events when you were told to do something by your Scout leader. Did you do it? Or you told someone else to do something. Did s/he do it?

Whether we consciously know it or not, trust guides our actions everyday, and our successes depends on trust. Without trust, we fail as a leader. To trust others means that we have to give up control. Our Scout Law begins with “Trustworthy” because it sets the tone for and applies to everything else down the list.

Sometimes we take trust for granted. We tell others to do things and we forget that they have the power to choose whether or not to do it. Conversely, we are told to do something and we also forget that the person telling us to do something trusts us to do it.

So really, trust is reciprocal. Without trust, there is no leadership.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday: BP Quote

ScoutingNewsStaff — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:02:31 +0000

Words of Wisdom Wednesday

The Words of Wisdom Wednesday series is composed of anecdotal segments to inspire and supplement a Scout’s personal development, building core values and moral character. An anecdote on WWW is similar to a “Scoutmaster’s Minute”. These anecdotes are intended to be shared with your units. We will strive to publish updates to Words of Wisdom Wednesday weekly.

By Sir Robert Baden-Powell

“The most important object in Boy Scout training is to educate, not instruct.”