Ethics. It’s a big word. It can be a loaded word in some ways.
Ethics is typically defined as the fundamental principles of decent human conduct. Merriam-Webster defines it as the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation. In business, it can be taken to encompass the study of universal values such as respect and equality for men and women, fairness in dealings with others and concern for health, safety and the environment.
Does this sound familiar in a Scouting context? It certainly should.
Ethics is at the heart of the values we instill in our young people. Continue reading “Ethics”
It’s May, so summer is almost here, and many Cub Scout packs are wrapping up their school year meeting schedules with springtime events designed to cap off a year of fun with a lighter activity or a ceremony to mark the transition from one year to the next. Our pack combined a crossover-of-sorts from one rank to the next along with an ice cream social.
At our church, I serve on a committee that oversees our communication efforts. Among our tasks are the advertising and promotions that we place in local media, our various “side-door” ministries (activities that help to enrich the community, like Scouting) and the church website. We redesigned the website this year, and one of the topics that we added was a look at our Sunday worship for those who are visiting us for the first time, and what they could expect when they walked through our doors.
A while back, we ran a couple articles about 
Have you, or your Scouts, ever played the game of Telephone? A group forms a circle, and the first person thinks of a message. He whispers it to the second person, and the second to the third, and so on, until it reaches the last person. The first person says his original message, and the last person repeats what he heard – usually hilariously different from the way it started. It’s a great illustration in the value of clear, accurate communication.