THE SCOUTING MOVEMENT (BOY SCOUTS)

The BOY SCOUT MOVEMENT that began in England and quickly spread around the world and which still exists today, to include girls and younger boys, under the 'Cub Scout' banner,etc. is not thought of as a 'secret' organization, although its seniors, the leaders and Scout Masters have been accused over the years of various practices and agendas that seem to discriminate against others,etc. Having been a Boy Scout myself, I entered the organization with youthful enthusiasm, namely because of its outdoor and camping activities, and so forth rather than the lofty moral and social codes it sought to instill in the members and received the usual 'shock' to discover that despite taking oaths to be 'morally straight and mentally clean' a great many of its members did the opposite: stole, swore, bullied, and did other things that could, and sometimes did, get them into trouble with the law or other authorities,etc. I also concluded much the same about the Freemasons and Shriners, who, for all their charitable work,etc., seldom exhibited on a daily basis in their ordinary 'non-lodge-temple' life the high morals and standards they claimed to be in such...that is, they succumbed to all the temptations of ordinary society...at least that was my observation...same as learning how the children of Christian Ministers, boys, could swear and curse and take their Lord's name in vain and exhibit all the non-Christian virtues...which sums up in this: Do what I say and not as I do, and always say the right thing and state the loftiest moral conclusions but do't necessarily follow them! Thus, from these childhood and youthful experiences and observations I learned the great difference between THEORY and PRACTICE and the huge gap that often exists between them! Nevertheless, I decided from such not to follow as best I could in the ways others did things and determined to be as different concerning things as best I could under the circumstances most of which demanded obedience and conformity....thus, I have often said of myself, I became educated in spite of the schools and the teachers I had...though, in fairness, some of them helped mre more than perhaps I deserved....but that history is not what I am discussing here..... What many ignore about scouting is this: it was set up as a quasi-military organization to regiment and recruit boys for the military by stressing military and survival skills, which are important, of course in this day and age even more so...I will stop here to let everyone digest this statement and comment on it another time.