On my honor

Dan Sernoffsky

On my honor ...

What a quaint concept. It used to mean something, but somehow, that meaning is slowly sinking into the morass of moral relativity. That the men who signed the document that helped establish our country some 230 years ago pledged their honor when putting their names to what very easily could have become a death warrant is something almost beyond comprehension today.

On my honor ...

Although it may be politically correct to gloss over in the classroom and on college campuses what those men did so long ago, indeed, to overlook them completely in certain circles, there are still those who believe those words have meaning; those for whom they represent an important principle.

On my honor ...

Those three words open the Boy Scout Oath, an oath which each youngster who joins Boy Scouts commits to memory from the very start of his career. When he first joins Boy Scouts, he may not fully understand what those three words mean, but they are a major part of the essence of an organization that this week is celebrating the 97th anniversary of its founding.

The theme for Scout Week this year is “discovering the principles of Scouting,” and those three words, “On my honor,” represent the foremost principle.

Since Boy Scouts of America was founded, there have been changes in uniforms, in requirements for advancement, in the subject of merit badges boys can earn. But those changes are as much cosmetic as anything else or are reflections of changes in technology. Today’s Boys Scouts can earn merit badges in atomic energy and computers and space exploration, fields that were virtually unknown little more than half a century ago.

What hasn’t changed is the Scout Oath, what it means, and how important it is.

On my honor ...

When a youngster joins Boy Scouts, in addition to committing the Scout Oath to memory, he also commits to memory the Scout Law. There are 12 points to that law, the first of which is “A Scout is trustworthy.” It means that the words “On my honor” represent not some idealistic platitude but rather a way of life, a way of behavior. Those three words are a foundational principle not only for Scouting but for life.

On my honor ...

How important are those words? They are important enough to give each youngster who learns them a sense that everything else he learns as a Boy Scout is linked to those three words. They carry with them a sense of personal responsibility too often missing in too many endeavors, a personal responsibility which may not be readily apparent to the boy of 11 or 12 who first promises “On my honor,” but who, as his journey to manhood continues, discovers honor is among the greatest of virtues.

Scouting still includes all the activities that have been associated with Scouting since it began — camping and cooking, swimming and hiking, first aid and pioneering. It also includes an emphasis on citizenship, just as it always has, teaching the values of civic education and civic responsibility.

Scouting offers opportunities to pursue individual interests through earning merit badges, from beekeeping to stamp collecting, from bugling to masonry, from plumbing to zoology. It offers opportunities for leadership, and it offers opportunities for travel.

But for all the activities, and all the opportunities, Scouting remains centered on principles, the principles which provide the building blocks for everything else. Those principles are embodied in the Scout Oath, in which each Scout, on his honor, promises to do his best to do his duty, to God, to country, to others, to himself. Those principles are embodied in the Scout Law, which requires not only that a Scout be worthy of trust but, among the other points of the Law, to also be helpful and friendly, courteous and kind, cheerful and reverent.

On my honor ...

Not every youngster who joins Boy Scouts will take advantage of the opportunties Scouting offers. Only a small percentage of those who join will eventually reach Scouting’s highest plateau in earning the rank of Eagle Scout. Some will drop out of Boy Scouts to pursue other interests, some will worry less about advancement and will focus more on other activities within the Scouting program.

Neither are there guarantees that joining Boy Scouts will automatically mean success, either in Scouting or in later endeavors. From the ranks of Boy Scouts have come men who have become astronauts and star athletes, generals and admirals, and President of the United States. But from the ranks of Boy Scouts have also become men who served in the armed forces as enlisted personnel, not officers; bank tellers, not bank presidents; farmers, not politicians.

But every youngster who joins Boy Scouts finds himself committing to memory the words, and the meaning, to the Scout Oath, words that embody the very principles of Scouting.

On my honor ...

A quaint concept? Not quaint. Very real, and very vital. Those words meant something to the men who founded the United States. They mean something to the youngsters who raise their right hand to take the Scout Oath. Scouting has been guided by principle since its inception. Those principles are worth remembering.

On my honor.

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Dan Sernoffsky is an award-winning sportswriter and political columnist for The Lebanon Daily News in Lebanon, Pa. A career journalist, he is a graduate of Ottawa University, Ottawa, Ks., and attended graduate school at Central Michigan University. The father of four grown children, he and his wife reside in Lebanon.

dsernoffsky@yahoo.com