By 1911 thousands of girls and boys were learning that to live the guiding principle of Scouting was to Be Prepared.
Pre-humans’ known world was tiny compared to ours, but the desire to spread personal and cultural seed remains the same. While it was once possible to hide in the bushes or run away from a bully, today there’s no place to hide.
Behavior genetics (nature/nurture) identifies the complex interface between biology, personality, and society when identifying a bully. Sadly, such knowledge can be misunderstood or fail to be put into timely action.
Scouts should be helpful; understand their heritage, and have respect for the rights of others. Scouts ought to be positive leader-citizens whose purpose is to think out beforehand any situation that might occur, know the right thing to do, and be willing to do it.
Some grown-ups blank out when it comes to remembering what they learned from playing peek-a-boo: Having your eyes closed doesn’t mean you’re invisible or, by extension, that something bad won’t happen simply because you ignore it. After all, monsters do live under the bed.
For example, at the turn of the last century the major powers engaged in what was later vowed to be the war to end all wars. When it was over, World War I accounted for almost a million deaths from combat alone.
Less than 25 years later almost the entire world was engulfed in war. Like other countries who chose to forget those early childhood lessons, America was awakened by a terrorist attack. On December 7, 1941, 2,335 servicemen died in 110 minutes. America vowed to “Remember Pearl Harbor” and never be caught off guard again.
World War II’s battle deaths would reach 15 million and introduce the world to “genocide”, a word not in existence until 1944.
But World War I didn’t end all war, generations have been born who don’t remember Pearl Harbor, or the reason we have come to know about genocide. On September 11, 2001 America would host terror again when 2,753 people died in the World Trade Centers.
Forgetting principles, letting infamy be redefined as genocide, and leaving aside our vows to remember history show a lack of learning, insight, and spirit that invite terror again and again.
It’s enough to make any Girl Scout cookie crumble.
Kathe Skinner is a Colorado Marriage & Family Therapist specializing in couples work. Married to another military brat, they live in Colorado Springs among airmen and soldiers whose job it is to be prepared. Find out more about Kathe Skinner’s work with couples on www.coupleswhotalk.com
Copyright 2015, Being Heard, LLC