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Opportunities for doing a
Good Turn are all around us.
Contact these organizations to find out how
you can do a Good Turn!
Humane Society - Contact the shelter in your town or city. They are always
looking for Kennel Cleaners, Dog Walkers, etc. Must be 16 years of
age.
Regional
Health Services - Volunteers are
always needed.
B-P describes Good Turns in
"Aids to Scout mastership". Please remember that this was
written by B-P long before Scouting became C0-educational, thus the
continuing reference to "boy."
"The boy can then realize better that
part of his "Duty to God" is to take care and develop as
a sacred trust those talents with which God has equipped him for
his passage through this life; the body with its health and
strength and reproductive powers to be used in God's service; the
mind with it's wonderful reasoning, memory and appreciation, which
place him above the animal world; and the soul, that bit of God
which is within him-namely, Love, which can be developed and made
stronger by continual expression and practice. Thus we teach him
that to do his Duty to God means, not merely to lean on His
kindness, but to do His will by practicing love toward one's
neighbor.
The curious thing is that this duty of
Service for Others through Good Turns is the one to which Scouts
rise with the fullest alacrity. On this seemingly small foundation
(the giving up of a small personal conveniences or pleasures in
order to render service) is built the character of self-sacrifice
for others.
The minor Good Turns which are part of the
Scout's faith are in themselves the first step. Nature study and
making friends with animals increase the kindly feeling with him. From
these minor Good Turns he goes on to learn first aid and help to
the injured, and in the natural sequence of learning how to save
life in the case of accidents, he develops a sense of duty to
others and a readiness to sacrifice himself in danger. This, again,
leads up to the idea of sacrifice for others, for his home and his
country, thereby leading to patriotism and loyalty of a higher type
than that of merely ecstatic flag-waving.
Scouting is a Brotherhood - a scheme which,
in practice, disregards differences of class, creed, country and
color, through the indefinable spirit that pervades it. - the
spirit of God's gentleman."
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