The Boy Scouts of America were proud to be ‘woke’ before it was trendy and widely accepted. Through their usage of patches and awards, they discovered a sense of activism and community spirit.

What can the modern world learn from the Boy Scouts of America?

Many people these days feel frustrated or misunderstood because the mainstream media often takes their voices away. As a result, they can be victims to bouts with self-righteous and misguided deeds. However, through the Boy Scouts of America, these same people could learn to practice healthy activism and community awareness. This premise is useful because scouting organizations teach people to be proactive, mobilize, and to stop fighting amongst themselves. In fact, you’ll find these messages on the patches or awards that are received by members of the Boy Scouts of America. For instance, these young troopers were taught to care for mother earth and received recognition for cleaning up the environment long before it was popular. They also remained conscious about preparedness for emergencies and simple situations such as road trips or hikes.

How does scouting compare to modern-day activism?

It may cause to you to grin when we state the obvious, but many people feel that they can take to Twitter or Facebook to solve the problems of the world. However, these ineffective forms of activism simply stand to make people more frustrated. That’s why the Boy Scouts of America has designed a system of awards and patches based on the merits of the deeds that have been completed. For example, Susan is upset about the environment, and her brother Johnny is a member of the boy scouts. So, the two venture out to their community with a large group of people and spend the afternoon cleaning up trash on the side of the freeway. For this task, Johnny earns a patch and learns a lesson about taking care of the planet. In the future, when he wants to do something about a problem, he’ll know that the onus is on him to take action. By way of comparison, the person who tweets about a problem and never sees results only compounds their frustration over time.

Is cleaning up a freeway significant?

Yes, it is a standard belief in the Boy Scouts of America that each precept is built upon the next. Therefore, if Johnny cleaned up a freeway as a teenager, then perhaps he will grow up to be an entrepreneur like Bill Gates, who is currently working to ensure that every person on the planet has access to clean water. Thus, parents found that the ultimate reward of these simple patches and awards: the knowledge and experience gained are far more valuable than most college educations.