Patriot Perspective
101st Anniversary: We Salute the BSA!
The Boys Scouts of America was incorporated Feb. 8, 1910. Sir Robert Baden-Powell began the movement in England two years prior. A hero of the South African Boer Wars, Sir Baden-Powell's troops were besieged 200 days by an overwhelming army, but thanks to his resourcefulness, his men were saved. The Boy Scouts are now the largest voluntary youth movement in the world, with membership over 25 million. In the 1917 pamphlet "Scouting & Christianity," Baden-Powell wrote: "Scouting is nothing less than applied Christianity."
President Calvin Coolidge wrote: "The boy on becoming a scout binds himself on his honor to do his 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'... Members must promise to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent... It would be a perfect world if everyone exemplified these virtues in daily life... Those who attempt to live in opposition to these standards ... become slaves of their own evil doing, realizing the Scriptural assertion that they who sin are the servants of sin and that the wages of sin is death. ... The three fundamentals of scouthood are reverence for nature ... reverence for law ... and reverence for God. It is hard to see how a great man can be an atheist. Doubters do not achieve. Faith is the great motive power, and no man realizes his full possibilities unless he has the deep conviction that life is eternally important, and that his work, well done, is part of an unending plan."
President Dwight Eisenhower stated on the 50th Anniversary of the BSA: "That is the great thing about Scouting... We read in our Bibles the Parable of the Good Samaritan... They individually and collectively begin to think of their nation in part as a 'good Samaritan,' doing the decent thing in this world... Scouting is indeed doing something ... vital to our vigor as a nation based upon a religious concept."
President George H.W. Bush stated: "People wonder and talk about ... the Thousand Points of Light? ... Helping some kid that may be tempted to use narcotics... A church group doing something... It's the Red Cross... It is the Boy Scouts... It is Christian Athletes... Voluntarism."
Here is a partial list of Eagle Scouts.
21 Comments
Tom
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 11:29 AM
102nd anniversary.
M Rick Timms. MD
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Thanks Tom for being both "mentally awake" and "helpful".
Robin
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 12:03 PM
No, no, no, Tom.The first anniversary would have been Feb. 1911, the hundredth anniversary was in 2011, so the 101st anniversary is 2012. It is the 102nd year since the BSA was Incorporated on February 8, 1910. Then the BSA was Chartered by Congress in 1916.
Dave Hudson
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 2:21 PM
I offer a salute to the BSA. They have earned all the support and respect they get. They should not have a gay or homo in the entire country with them. They should do all necessary to keep themselves clear of those that hate decency.
Sam Santucci
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 2:25 PM
And now the Boy Scouts, to a large extent, are shunned, ridiculed and looked down upon because of their stance on homosexuality. Pitiful how far our nation has regressed. We are on a downward spiral that becomes more precipitous which each passing day. Pray, my dear friends for a strong, moral president who will lead our nation back to its former greatness.
M Rick Timms, MD
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 6:00 PM
Robin,You shall receive your "history" and "vocabulary" badges in the mail. Well done. Thanks
Carlos Lumpuy
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 6:33 PM
Winter greetings from Washington.The positive contributions of the Boy Scouts of America over the last century cannot be overstated.It is one of those private institutions that are the very underpinnings of American life, tradition and our American culture.From an early age, Scouting teaches are young a lifelong learning of healthy living, serving others, building character, responsible citizenship and self-reliance.I did not know it myself at the time when I was a Scout, a long time ago, but the many programs of Scouting inculcate the values and virtues of good American citizenship, teamwork, trustworthiness and clean living through various activities of camping, hiking, aquatics, basic archeology, through the incremental learning of outdoor skills including tying of knots, safe use of knives and tools, proper use of camp fires, respectful display of flags, sign language, being considerate of the outdoors and conservation minded and so many more skills including social manners and respect for elders and authority that supplement the school education of youth.A recent good read on Scouting was written by the Governor of Texas Rick Perry, "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts are Worth Fighting For".Today, I'm able to communicate with deaf/mutes because of the sign language I learned as a Scout. I'm a better man today because I was a Scout. As a young man I was taught to live a life prepared for tomorrow. It has carried me to this day.I know it's been thought of as corny over the years, but take pause to reflect on what was instilled in us with what we were taught to recite in thought, word, and deed:"A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.""On my honor, I will do my bestTo do my duty to God and my country;To obey the Scout Law;To help other people at all times;To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight."Do a good turn daily.Be Prepared !
tom
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 6:50 PM
I'm Star and it is olny my second year
KN
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 8:03 PM
My wife and I are proud of our Eagle Scout who is now 26.
John McMinn
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 7:30 AM
My substitute father during World War !! and my guiding light ever since. Still activel and ever gratefull. Eagle Scout John McMinn
Mikey
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:20 AM
Duration calculation resultsFrom and including: Tuesday, February 8, 1910To, but not including : Wednesday, February 8, 2012It is 37,255 days from the start date to the end date, but not including the end dateOr 102 years excluding the end date
wildbiker
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:25 AM
Thank you to Scouting. It stands for the very things those who persecute BSA say they are for. Being honest, decent, upstanding. Courageous and true to your values. Those that would champion their own right to stand steadfastly in their own identities, singing 'born this way', would deny Scouting its right to stand steadfastly by its own values. Some would deceitfully swear the Scout oath (an oath to God, not to man) only to reveal later they are not who they said they were as if the betrayal to the oath they took was some badge of honor. Scouting has endured this and remained. Happy Anniversary!
John Z
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:28 AM
Nice article and well summarized. I will be referencing it in some of my communications with Scouts and Scout Leaders. Thank you
Eagleman1969
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:40 PM
I attended the 1969 Scout Jamboree in Idaho, where OUR EAGLES on the Moon broadcast just to us. I also personally met Jesse Owens & Astronaut William Lenoir. I painted a church for my Eagle Project.We visited with my son as he attended the 2005 Scout Jamboree in Virginia and President George W. Bush was the headliner. My son spent a summer teaching disabled American Veterans to canoe & kayak around Presque Isle in Erie, PA.All of these days are amoung the most memorable of both our lives. Nothing beats a life of "cheerful service"!The torch has been passed!
LiveFreeOrDie1776
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 1:58 PM
The best of the best who did not buckle when the gay-supremacists used every legal assault to bully and intimidate the BSA who stood strong in love of their motto, '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'... Members must promise to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent... It would be a perfect world if everyone exemplified these virtues in daily life... I applaud them for staring down a mob of miscreant lawyers and carrying on in doing and being a witness of good in a counter-culture who's goal it is to destroy their best and brightest. Decency, honor and love of God and their fellow man will always keep them victorious.