Replies to Scouts-L
Ian N Ford (ian@FORD.DIRCON.CO.UK)
Fri, 30 Jul 1999 19:37:07 +0100
Today I received a courteous email from a member of this list in response to
my reply to a post about a Scout's position of responsibility and
advancement. The writer accused me of " taking sides " on the basis of just
" one side of the story "
The point is that none of us ever has the full story. All we have is the
poster's SUBJECTIVE view. We reply on the basis of the information
available, and do so in good faith. It is not a matter of " taking sides "
... Certainly, speaking for myself, I try to respond because I would hope
that if I raised an issue others would do the same for me. But the reply is
my SUBJECTIVE response to someone else's subjective story.
This is a large list that goes all over the world. I would hope that none
of the members would use this as their first
approach to dealing with a troop problem. Megaphone diplomacy is not only
bad manners, it is usually ineffectual and result in parties taking up even
more entrenched positions. This group is a great resource, but it is not a
substitute for doing your own thinking in the unit, possibly involving your
Unit Commissioner, ADC, DC or District Scout Executive - people who should
know your locality, your troop and the personalities involved. Ideally
units would live by the principles of Scouting and problems would resolved
quickly and sensibly within the walls of the troop meeting hall. However, in
reality we are dealing with fallible human beings, and things do go wrong.
At that point it sometimes helps to get a wider perspective on the basis of
" what would you do in this situation ... ? "
But hopefully we are all aware that we are dealing with a perception of a
problem and not the problem itself. The map is not the territory, and
sometimes the map is inaccurate. Sometimes we see a completely different map
! This is just a sounding board ... information and opinions on Scouts-L are
freely given, and worth every penny you pay for them.
YiS
Ian N Ford
