Nov. 26, 2020

Do a Good Turn

Doing a “Good Turn” - to one person, if not to many - daily is a key element of what Scouting is (should be) about.

Show Notes

Doing a “Good Turn” - to one person, if not to many - daily is a key element of what Scouting is (should be) about.

Podcast Topics

Ken and Colin discuss the concept of the “Good Turn”. It’s a phrase that many associate with Scouting, and rightly so, although the phrase itself — at least in Canada — only turns up in the Cub Scout Promise. That said, the concept of helping others permeates all levels of the Scouting program; it’s in the Beaver Scout Law, and in both the Scout Promise and Law.

And it’s a concept that Baden-Powell discusses in some detail in Scouting for Boys; he places considerable emphasis on the concept, even urging Scouts who aren’t able to do a Good Turn one day to do an extra Good Turn the next day.

Ken also argues that, contra the notion of “Random Acts of Kindness”, doing a Good Turn isn’t (or shouldn’t generally be) something that just happens spontaneously, without thought or planning. This isn’t to say that it’s a bad thing for Scouts to do random kind acts...but it is to say that Scouts should have a mindset of being ready to do a kind act, to think through the day ahead and anticipate possible opportunities to help out, to do good.

Shout-Outs

A much-belated shout-out goes to ScouterKoolAid, who left a comment on the Instagram post concerning Episode 102 (the topic of which was the then-pending return to in-person Scouting in Canada). Evidently, the good Scouter’s troop had recently held a virtual campfire:

We did Zoom meal check-ins, Zoom falls for Friday opening, Saturday AM activity, early Saturday PM activity, evening activity, campfire, Sunday AM activity, Scouts Own, and closing. We also had an optional offline activity late Saturday afternoon.

And as always, a big thank you to the folks at Scouting Radio for rebroadcasting Scouting Stuff episodes to their worldwide Scouting audience. If you're listening to us on Scouting Radio right now, let us know; reach out and get in touch. We'd love to hear from you.