A Century Of Scouting

What organization in the Kansas City has members, who have spent more than 5 million hours combined exposing youth to nature, so far this year? 5 million hours works out to be around 590 years or more than 7000 months. That is a lot of time, and a lot of devotion to a single organization.

What organization is it; it could only be one, the Boy Scouts.

In 2007, just in the Heart of America Council (Kansas City Area), 14,851 Boys spent an average of 9 days at camp. In addition to the boys, 7,853 adults donated 9 days of their vacation time and another 1,291 gave additional vacation days in order to provide adult leadership to their boys.

This year is the 100 year centennial of Boy Scouting, and Scouts from all over the world returned to Britain, the birthplace of Boy Scouting. On August 1^st the Scouting Jamboree’s 40,000 participants descended on the British town of Chelmsford, including many representatives from the Kansas City area.

Just as today, as the nineteenth century ended, adults on both sides of the Atlantic looked at the younger generation of boys and worried. In teeming cities, poor immigrant boys seemed destined for delinquency or poverty. Ernest Thompson Seton, a Canadian naturalist, wildlife painter, and children's author, observed at the time, "It is the exception when we see a boy respectful of his superiors and obedient to his parents . . . handy with tools and capable of taking care of himself, under all circumstances . . . whose life is absolutely governed by the safe old moral standards."

Enter British war hero, Lord Baden-Powell. A distinguished veteran of the Boer War in 1903, Lord Baden-Powell shared the concerns of his contemporary’s concerning the young men of his era. But he noticed that the boys loved reading the scouting manual he had written, and several local teachers urged him to revise the manual for boys. Lord Baden-Powell, inspired by Seton's Woodcraft Indians handbook, took up the challenge and in 1907 wrote Scouting for Boys. And thus Boy Scouting was born.

Scouting grew quickly, leading the famous author, H.G. Wells to write, just three years after publication of Scouting for Boys, "a new sort of little boy—a most agreeable development of the slouching, cunning, cigarette-smoking, town-bred youngster—a small boy in a khaki hat, with bare knees and athletic bearing, earnestly engaged in wholesome and invigorating games—the Boy Scout."

The first American edition, in 1911, the Scout Handbook for Boys, included contributions from famous American naturalists, stories about Abraham Lincoln, the Pilgrims and American Government. The 1913 edition included a reminder from Chief Scout Citizen Theodore Roosevelt that "manliness in its most rigorous form can be and ought to be accompanied by unselfish consideration for the rights and interests of others."

What is it about Boy Scouting that has engendered such loyalty, and popularity amongst its members? Why has Boy Scouting lasted for 100 years with no sign of losing its popularity? Why has its Kansas City members spent more than 5 million hours at camp this summer?

The answer is obvious; there is a definite need in our society for Scouting and Scouting meets that need superbly.

The Scout Oath and Law state a clearly defined code of ethical and moral conduct. If you think about it, you'll see that their ideals - trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent - can become very concrete goals for young people. Far from being "new and improved", these ideals have been around since the very beginning of Scouting.

My two sons and I have had the privilege of belonging to Boy Scouts, and I think that all three of us have gained a great deal from our involvement. My oldest son achieved the rank of Eagle and my youngest is well on his way to doing the same. And I am the proud parent of two boys that are both leaders amongst their peers.

I’ll never regret making the decision to get my boys involved in Scouting, and to those parents trying to decide which of the many opportunities their boys should get involved in this fall, may I make an observation. In the future will your son be able to put in his resume or college application that he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout or not, that rests on the decisions you make today.