The Scout Law: Twelve Words That Still Guide Us Today

Climbing a mountain, our mindset is ever upward – steps to the crest, gradual gains; now and again, we look back for perspective. We should now. The “Scout Law” offers perspective, a way to recalibrate, re-understand the timeless climb.

In 1908, the Boy Scouts created a “Scout Law,” an understandable code to live by, a way to measure ourselves, stay on track, and prepare for new situations.

Looking back, the “Scout Law” offers a valuable, often unremembered, code of conduct, a way to be our best, stability against moral and mental drift, lawlessness, and the growing sense that many have no code and do not understand a personal code.

The “Scout Law” is twelve words, a life guide really. The twelve are traits to which we may all aspire, ways we should want to live. To some, they will sound like common sense; to others, old-fashioned sensibilities. But they are relevant now.

A Scout aims to be: Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Why these qualities? Because from 1908 to now, they have built and sustained character and peace under pressure.

The original “Scouting for Boys,” crafted by Baden Powell (scouting’s founder), aimed to prepare young men for life’s challenges, fortifying their best instincts.

The volume included reminders that “a scout’s honor is to be trusted,” and that honor is earned, not given, that “if a scout says, ‘on my honor it is so,’ … then it is so.” In Powell’s day, the consequence for breach was expulsion from scouting.

“Loyalty” to principles and nation was equally important. Being derided for it was to be expected; strength was drawn from keeping course under pressure to change.

Being “helpful” was a commitment to be other-regarding. A scout was expected to see beyond himself. “He is to do his duty before anything else … though he gives up his own pleasure, or comfort, or safety to do it.”

The original manual said: “When in difficulty … know which of two things to do… ask … ‘Which is my duty?’ and ‘Which is best for other people?’ and do that one.” To achieve that objective, a scout “must ‘Be Prepared’ at any time to save life, or to help injured persons, and he must do a good turn … every day.”

These days, the idea of such a compass may seem quaint, a notion that one would resolve to do “a good turn daily” almost trite. But it is not. It is the daily reaffirmation to live in a way that places the well-being of others above our own, a high purpose.

Last year, I lost a friend who personified the ideal. Successful, he had a habit. He kept five pennies on one side of his desk phone. Every day – without fail – he would offer help or a compliment to five people. Each time, he moved a penny to the other side of his phone. At the end of every day for years, all five had been moved.

The requirement to be “friendly” seems a lost priority, but the Scout Law reminds us it matters. The 1908 volume notes: “A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other scout, no matter to what social class the other belongs.”

Widening the aperture, you see what we have lost. The manual advises: “If a scout meets another scout, even though a stranger to him, he must speak to him, and help him in any way that he can, either to carry out the duty he is then doing, or by giving him food, or, as far as possible, anything that he may be in want of.”

A Christian temperament, like the YMCA and YWCA, includes the directive that “A scout accepts the other man as he finds him, and makes the best of him.” Notably, origins of the “Scout Law” span the planet, from Christian writings to “the Bushido code of the Japanese Samurai” to the “laws of honor of the American Indians” to “the code of chivalry of European knights” to “the Zulu fighters Baden-Powell had fought against.” In short, best values were distilled from other codes.

Being “courteous” was to be civil and “manly,” a non-condescending requirement to show respect and support, and a scout “must not take any reward for being helpful or courteous.”

Much more could be said, but one thought: Imagine if our national, state, and local leaders strived to meet this “Scout Law” today. Why should they not? There is wisdom, as we climb, now and again to look back for perspective.