Timeless Values
I noticed that the most recent issue of Time Magazine devoted a major portion and the front-page to the upcoming movie, The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers. Part of the coverage was an article on our recent fascination with epic stories and films dealing with knights and other heroic characters engaged in the age-old battle between good and evil.
The good guys seem to have one thing in common. They seem to be everything a knight should be... honorable, chivalrous and incredibly brave.
I remember my fascination with the Knights of Yore during my years as a Cub Scout and I also remember reading my Boy Scout Handbook with its analogies relating the Boy Scout Oath and Law to the "Code of Knighthood." I later realized it wasnt about the armor or the weapons either. It was about the code of chivalry. It was really about the values shared by both the Knights of Yore and Scouts.
And maybe that is exactly what is so attractive about some of the heroic characters in these highly successful movies. Maybe the struggle we really admire is the struggle to not be seduced by the power of the ring, the easy path, the struggle to not make the less than ethical choices that face us all from time to time.
Maybe the popularity of these films is in response to a longing for a return to a time when there were knights striving to live by their code of honor, laboring to help the less fortunate and defending the values of their order. Common to all stories of knighthood and heroes is the arduous training in the traditions and skills of one who would follow a path of service to others and duty to God and Country. Sound familiar?
I truly believe that your work in delivering Scoutings values, thought they be a most demanding path for todays youth, is critical to our nations journey through the moral and ethical quagmire we find ourselves in.
Maybe we really are seeing a return to the values that Scouting never left. Are we up to the task of delivering that promise?
John O. Thurston
December, 2002
The South Texas Scouter
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