OldScout997

Wow... forty plus years of Scouting under my belt and it still amazes me how we often forget that one of the three foundations of Scouting is Character Development. In my humble opinion, the personal responsibility of 'thriftiness' is a huge element of that; teaching our Scouts and yes, our Scout families too, that we pay our own way should be one of the things we constantly put before them. Moreover, I think that we often forget that we shouldn't be in the business of 'business'; we shouldn't ever work towards building huge war chests of money for our units so that we can be like so many other organizations which are all about growing through providing instant gratification to the masses, while forgetting their core beliefs. For as Baden-Powell was once quoted, "Scouting is not an organization, it is a movement." I believe therefore, that everything we do should be in keeping with the ideals of that 'movement', and 'money for nothing' has no place, no matter how well intended the giver's motives. Thus I feel that in situations like this, we should take the lead of the unknown Scout, who introduced Mr. Boyce to Scouting; who after leading Boyce through the London fog, refused a tip saying, "No thanks sir, I am a Scout". And we should then direct Mr. Businessman to our local council, or to the national council... because after all, those folks ARE in the business of running the business end of Scouting. Just my two-cents worth.