Friday night I officially bid farewell to my days as a youth member of the Scouting movement. In Australia, a Rover Scout who turns 26 is "booted" by their Crew in a celebration to mark the occasion. What a journey it's been. I thought I'd post my speech from the evening as a bit of a reflection on the most influential years of my life.
This morning I underwent a boot vigil; a new Crew tradition. The vigil allowed me to reflect on the past 8 or so years of my life as a Rover, and the entirety of my time as a youth member in our movement. A few things occurred to me through this process.
These days, I spend my days reflecting. Did I need to vigil to look back on my time in Rovers? It seemed easy to say no. But then I thought a bit more and realised something beyond that. Reflection is now inherent. I don’t need an excuse or a reason to do it, it just happens. I fully believe that I have Scouting, and in particular my last eight years as a Rover, to thank for that. So did I need a vigil at this point in my life? It turns out I really did… because it helped me fully realise the purpose of the last 16 years of my life and what was achieved by it.
The Mission of Scouting is:
To contribute to the education of young people, through a value system based on the Scout Promise and Law, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society. This is achieved by
involving them throughout their formative years in a non-formal educational process
using a specific method that makes each individual the principal agent in his or her development as a self-reliant, supportive, responsible and committed person
assisting them to establish a value system based upon spiritual, social and personal principles as expressed in the Promise and Law.
I thought about the Scout Law and its role in my life. So often this is taught as something to be memorised, and as an expectation of a code of living for our members. But I think it’s more than that. Scouting’s role is to develop these values that are found in so few individual places in our society these days. There have been times where I haven’t demonstrated these laws completely. I’ve made mistakes. But we are truly successful in living out these laws if we acknowledge and accept these mistakes with humility. We can’t define ourselves by our mistakes or others by theirs, but rather the qualities strengthened by overcoming those mistakes. This is resilience, and ultimately that is the aim of Scouting, and as such, Rovering.
Our movement is aimed at youth, and the full developmental process from the ages of 6 to 26. I have no hesitation in claiming that it was through Rovering that I experienced my greatest growth as a person. Rovering is where we find our self-fulfilment as individuals and where we determine our “constructive role in society”. It’s often saddened me to hear people question the significance of this section, or to see Rovers just as a social club. As a young adult, you’re still growing and developing and this is a critical time in your life to step out of that comfort zone and really finalise that holistic development that is the aim of Scouting. This point is what Scouting is building up to. Without Rovering, Scouting does not fully achieve its mission.
I thought about what the pinnacle of my Rovering was… It’s an easy answer to say it was the Baden-Powell Scout Award, but in reality, it wasn’t. Scouting isn’t about badges. Our progress through this experience may often be recognised by a piece of cloth, but that’s not what it is about. It’s about the experiences, the life lessons, and perhaps most of all the people. If Scouting is developing 40 million people in the way that I mentioned before, then it must be a pretty great thing to be a part of. I’m very thankful to be in a room full of so many of them.
People have often asked if now at the age of 26, I “feel old”, or if I’m sad about leaving Rovers. The answer honestly is “no”. In many ways, and probably thanks to Rovering I feel younger than ever. Whether that’s my mid-20s crisis or not, I don’t know (nor care)! Feeling old is an attitude, and as with any attitude, it’s completely up to you to choose it. I’m ready to leave Rovers because I feel I’ve achieved what I set out to, and I hope all of the Rovers present will be able to find themselves in that position in less than a year, or 1, 2, or 8 years’ time.
It’s been an amazing adventure. There are so many people to thank it would be impossible to do so. So here’s to the next chapter, and here’s to Rovers.
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