[15394] in APO-L
Scout Law
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joseph M. Fisher)
Fri Nov 8 18:59:52 1996
Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 18:58:54 -0800
Reply-To: "Joseph M. Fisher" <jfisher@RacerX.mse.jhu.edu>
From: "Joseph M. Fisher" <jfisher@RacerX.mse.jhu.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L@VM.CC.PURDUE.EDU>
Brothers,
I think this discussion has wandered away from the proposal at hand. Our
debate at the convention is not going to be about whether we should follow
the Scout Law - but about whether we should give the Law (and the Oath)
what is probably the highest place of honor in our articles of
incorporation. If we were to approve this change, we would then be
assembled in the "fellowship of the Scout Oath and Law" (quote probably
not exact.) Just taking this idea by itself - not worrying for the
moment about what the BSA wants, or what injustices the BSA may or may
not be responsible for - I still oppose the change.
My reason is that the Oath and Law are not ours. We are not all Scouts;
our chapters do not all present the Twelve Points as a part of APO's
philosophy. LFS is what unites us, and that is what the current purpose
says, albeit in clumsy language. Yes, LFS is a derivation from and
simplification of the Twelve Points - but the current statement says that
too. I agree that our purpose should be a single unambiguous sentence
(which it is not now), but it should also be a statement of who we are.
Our history with the Scouts is a significant portion of who we are, but it
is not everything.
But on the subject of whether good brothers should follow the Scout Law...
of course we should! Reasonably interpreted the Twelve Points are nothing
less than a statement of how to be a decent human being. The Scouts are
by no means the only people who should follow them.
I say "reasonably interpreted," because one has always to guard against
misunderstandings, unjustified assumptions, and the like. Given a
skewed concept of the Law, I could easily be pegged as irreverent,
insubordinate, or possibly even disloyal - just as given a skewed concept
of human relations, I could in theory be pegged as sexist (but that's a
post to come).
-- Cyrano, trying very hard not to lapse into French
