Notes from my Knapsack 2-8-24

Notes from my Knapsack 2-8-24
Jeff Gill

Taking a breath of fresh air
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On Feb. 8, 1910, now 114 years ago, the Boy Scouts of America were chartered. Scouting had begun just over two years earlier in Great Britain, the brain child of Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, who wisely tended to go by "B-P."

A war hero in England, he came home invited to do anything, but decided he wanted to find a way to use his unexpected fame to serve youth. His experiences around the world made him wonder about what it meant back home for children to grow up in the steadily developing Industrial Revolution, in housing tracts we'd call suburbia today, with less and less contact with nature or the chance to roam and ramble about in it.

"Scouting for Boys" began World Scouting in 1908; girls asked to join early on and in 1909 he developed Girl Guides in Great Britain. A chance encounter with Juliette Gordon Low led to Girl Scouts in the United States after 1912.

Today, the Scouting Movement spans over 200 countries with some 35 million or more members. Scouting is one of the most formative experiences of my life, and I owe Pack 20 and Troop 7, Camp To-pe-nee-bee and Wood Lake Scout Reservation, all more than I can say in this one column. As a Cub Scout and Boy Scout, a youth member and adult leader since 1979, what I've learned through participation in the Scouting program has helped me in all manner of activities and life pursuits far beyond campfires and dutch ovens.

Many are familiar with the Scout Oath and Law, but you may not know as much about the "Aims and Methods" of Scouting. The four aims are Character, Citizenship, Personal Fitness, and Leadership. Those are the elements we aim to develop in young people who participate in the Scouting program.

To achieve those aims, Scouting utilizes eight methods: Our Scouting ideals (exemplified by the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, the Scout Motto, and the Scout Slogan); use of the patrol method; our advancement system (best known in Scouts BSA through ranks and merit badges); the opportunity for healthy adult association; an ongoing emphasis on personal growth; attention to age appropriate leadership development throughout the program; the wearing of a Scout uniform which unifies all participants through a common set of non-trendy clothes; and there's one more to make eight.

That last method through which Scouting delivers on those four aims is an expectation for everyone to participate in outdoor programs. It's that outdoor element I think is still as needed as B-P believed it was, back in 1907 as he was putting the program together for the first time.

Just to get up, and get out of the house. If you do nothing else today, just make sure to go look at some clouds passing, or if they're gone, go see some stars tonight. Walk if you can, get outside when possible, and take in a breath of fresh air. B-P wanted us to start there.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's been in Scouting a while and hopes to keep giving back. Tell him about youth serving work you've seen be effective at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads.