Globusz^® Publishing 

A Scout is active in doing good,
not passive in being good.

The attributed which we have so far been studying, as tending to make our boys into manly, healthy, happy working citizens, are, to a great extent, selfish ones designed for the good of the individual. We now come to the fourth branch of Scout training, through which, by developing his outlook, the boy gives out good to others.

Selfishness

If I were asked what is the prevailing vice in the world I should say - Selfishness. You may not agree with this at first sight, but look into it and I believe you will come to the same conclusion. Most crimes, as recognised by law, come from the indulgence of selfishness, from a desire to acquire, to defeat, or to wreak vengeance. The average man will gladly give a contribution to feed the poor and will feel satisfied that he has then done his duty, but he is not going to dock himself of his own food and good wine to effect a saving for that purpose.

Selfishness exists in a thousand different ways. Take, for instance, party politics. Men here get to see a question, which obviously has two sides to it, exactly as if there were only one possible side, namely, their own, and they then get to hate another man who looks upon it from the other side. The result may lead men on to commit the greatest crimes under high-sounding names. In the same way, wars between nations have come about from neither party being able to see the other's point of view, being obsessed entirely by their own interests. Strikes, too, and lockouts are frequently the outcome of developed selfishness. In many cases, employers have failed to see that a hard-working man should, in justice, get a share of the goods of the world in return for his effort, and not be condemned to perpetual servitude simply to secure a certain margin of profits for the shareholders. On the other hand, the worker has to recognise that without capital there would be no work on a large scale, and there can be no capital without some return to the subscribers for the risks they face in subscribing.

In one's newspaper every day one sees examples of selfishness when one reads the letters of these small-minded men who, at every little grievance, rush headlong to "write to the papers."

And so it goes on, down to the children playing their games in the streets; the moment that one is dissatisfied at not getting his share of winning he abruptly leaves the scene remarking: "I shan't play any more!" The fact that he upsets the fun of the others does not appeal to him - unless it be satisfying to his spite.