question on the scout law

[lenrely]

I'm writing a paper on personal responsibility and I intended to cite a portion of the Scout Law litany we used to recite, where each of the twelve points is followed by a brief explanation. It was something like "A scout is Obedient toward those who hold his respect". In all the litanies I can find this has been changed to "He obeys his parents, scoutmaster, patrol leader, and all other duly constituted authorities" or "A scout follows the rules of his family, school and troop". The difference is these versions lack a moral contingency, they sound more like someone else's motive for the scout's personal volition. These words meant a lot to me because I came from a dysfunctional home and I felt that the Scout Law understood this. Does anyone have the text of this version of the law or something different? Thanks.

[JFL49]

You could look to Baden Powell's original description of the Scout Law:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_Law

or

http://www.inquiry.net/ideals/b-p/law.htm

 

 

 

 

 

[UCEagle72]

This is from the Scout Handbook of my era (7th Edition):

 

A Scout is Trustworthy

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, he may be directed to hand over his Scout badge.

 

A Scout is Loyal

He is loyal to all to whom loyalty is due, his Scout Leader, his home and parents and country.

 

A Scout is Helpful

He must be prepared at any time to save life, help injured persons, and share the home duties. He must do at least one Good Turn to someone every day.

 

A Scout is Friendly

He is a friend to all and a brother to every other Scout.

 

A Scout is Courteous

He is polite to all, especially to women, children, old people, and the weak and helpless. He must not take pay for being helpful or courteous.

 

A Scout is Kind

He is a friend to animals. He will not kill nor hurt any living creatures needlessly, but will strive to save an protect all harmless life.

 

A Scout is Obedient

He obeys his parents, Scoutmaster, patrol leader, and all other duly constituted authorities.

 

A Scout is Cheerful

He smiles whenever he can. His obedience to orders is prompt and cheery. He never shirks nor grumbles at hardships.

 

A Scout is Thrifty

He does not wantonly destroy property. He works faithfully, wastes nothing, and makes the best use of his opportunities. He saves his money so that he may pay his own way, be generous to those in need, and helpful to worthy objects. He may work for pay, but must not receive tips for courtesies or Good Turns.

 

A Scout is Brave

He has the courage to face danger in spite of fear and to stand up for the right against the coaxing of friends or the jeers or threats of enemies, and defeat does not down him.

 

A Scout is Clean

He keeps clean is body and thought; stands for clean speech, clean sport, clean habits; and travels with a clean crowd.

 

A Scout is Reverent

He is reverent toward God. He is faithful in his religious duties and respects the convictions of others in matters of custom and religion.

 

 

It was then followed by individual pages for each point of the Scout Law that went into even more detail.

(This message has been edited by UCEagle72)