Brother and Sister Dominicans: today marks the 154th birthday of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, the English soldier who founded scouting. He founded that noble movement in 1907, one hundred and four years ago, and today, it is the largest movement of young people in the world comprising 28 million scouts, young people and adults, male and female in 216 countries and territories. Only about 6 countries in the world do not have a scouting presence within their borders.
The movement was brought to Dominica in 1929 by J.O. Aird and others, and has proved to be a nurturing ground for leadership and character training throughout the length and breadth of the island.
Today, the tenets: service to God, service to country and self-reliance that Baden-Powell worked into the scouting ethic are so sorely needed. Deviance in our youth finds expression in gang violence, drugs in the schoolyard, children demanding that parents do as they say, teenage murderers in our prisons, skewed moral values that makes hedonism the order of the day, a placing of self before duty and service, and a reward system that turns John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country” into the greedy, grasping materialistic “What is there in it for me.”
Brother and Sister Dominicans Baden-Powell’s scouting captured the youthful spirit. The sight of boys rollicking in clean rough and tumble fun, the canvas of tents bellying in the breeze, the smells of outdoor cooking tickling the olfactory organs, the sight of flags bravely whipping in the wind and the sound of martial music in the air all fused to rear a boy into a man strong in body, clean in mind and noble in spirit. The kind of man Dominica so sorely needs today.
Brother and Sister Dominicans as we commemorate this day: scouting’s “Founders Day,” known also in Guiding as “Thinking Day,” know that the Dominica Scout Association stands firm in the thrust against all manner of violence. Know that the Dominica Scout Association stands firm in the war against alcoholism and drug addiction. Know that the Dominica Scout Association stands firm in the push against immoral behavior and its peripherals as it fulfills its mission to contribute to the education of young people through a value system based on the Scout Law and Promise, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society.
This we achieve by involving our scouts throughout their formative years in a non-educational process using a specific method that makes each individual the principal agent in his or her development as a self-reliant, supportive, responsible and committed person and by assisting them to establish a value system based on spiritual, social and personal principles as expressed in the Promise and Law.
So as we commemorate this birthday of Baden Powell the Founder of Scouting, we as civic leaders, religious leaders, captains of industry, youth group leaders, and even more so, scout and guide leaders, it behooves us to hold fast to his legacy that perpetuates the breeding noble men and women who see it their duty to serve God and country, help other people at all times and to keep the Scout Law. May God bless the old soldier for doing his duty so well. Good huntin.’
Editor’s note: Worldwide in nearly all scout associations, Founder’s Day is celebrated on February 22.
Well done Bonti and keep up the good work. I hope these words of wisdom will resonate beyond the ears of the youth and penetrate the conscience of the adults especially the leaders in our society.
I di read between the lines.
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Well done chief
“the sight of boys rollicking in clean rough and tumble fun, the canvas of tents bellying in the breeze, the smells of outdoor cooking tickling the olfactory organs, the sight of flags bravely whipping in the wind and the sound of martial music in the air all fused to rear a boy strong in body, clean in mind and noble in spirit.”… That is vintage Bonti Liverpool, still the master of the English language from Grand Bay Boys’ School to S.M.A. Scouting had all but died in Dominica until Mr. Liverpool resurrected himself to resurrect the Scout Movement. Ole Srcatch-Match, Ole Batu, Ole Chief, Ole Skipper, Ole Stepping Razor, the Ace. God brought you back from the pit so that you could help others, and what a marvelous job you are doing of it. Great job, Bonti Liverpool, God bless you.
healthy for Dominica and the youngster
cool
It is good to have these organizations especially for the young people. I do not hear of them often as before, but I do hope that the discipline they teach can continue to be passed on. Good article, Mr. Liverpool.
Well said my good friend Bonti.