On My Honor, I Will Do My Best, to do my Duty to God and my Country, and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
-Scout Oath
A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
-Scout Law
These great words have been long ingrained in my memory. As a scout, they are the first thing you learn beginning on your scouting journey. They are the first requirement expected of everyone in scouting. They are words to live by and are the foundation for a life of scouting and a life of adventure.
Now, more than ever have these words come to be important. Everyone, not just Scouts & Scouters can benefit from knowing and living these words. Understanding these words & implementing what they teach is the first step to making a better world, a world for justice, love and peace.
The Scout Oath is a promise that has existed since the beginning of the scouting movement and is almost universal throughout international scouting. The Oath is split into three parts, emphasizing different behaviors that guarantee the development of good character.
The first part is On my Honor, I Will do my best, to do my Duty to God and my Country, and to obey the Scout Law. This requires a scout to lay down his word, his character, who he is in order to carry out his promise. To do one's best is to put in full effort in everything one does especially the development of character and living out the Scout Oath and Law.
To do one's duty is to do what is expected, and what is required to fulfill a scout's obligations to his family, his community, his religion and his country. It requires a Scout to be patriotic and to look out for the best interests of his country. He is expected to stand up for what is right, to obey the law when morally acceptable, and to prevent tyranny and oppression.
For those who are not religious, or who do not believe in God, Duty to God simply means living an upright life. In order to obey the scout law, one must live up to the ideals embodied by the words of the Scout Law.
The second part is To help other people at all times. This is the expectation that a scout will live a life of cheerful service in devotion to others, and that he will avoid laziness and make himself useful. It is also important that when a scout sees a need- a door to open, groceries to carry, little old ladies to help across the street--that he will fulfill that need.
The third part is To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight. These three promises are important for creating a healthy life. To be physically strong is to exercise regularly, and work to be healthy. To keep mentally awake means to exercise one's mind, and to be the best student one can be.
It requires vigilance and awareness of one's surrounding so that when necessary one can act in an emergency, recognize the needs of others and be helpful. Moral straightness means to live one's life in a moral and upright manner. It requires a scout to stand up for what is right, to resist tyranny and the temptations of peer pressure and popular opinions that are not morally correct.
The scout law is an expansion of the scout oath, highlighting twelve characteristics that will create a good character. They are the building blocks of a good scouting life. Many of the characteristics build on each other. For example: If a scout is kind, he is also courteous, and he is also cheerful and friendly.
I am proud to be an Eagle Scout, and have made it a goal in my life to pursue these precepts in my faith, my life and my work.
If we live by these ideals, than we will be prepared for life.
Are you ready to Be Prepared?