The only alternative to making mistakes is for someone to make all your decisions for you, in which case you will make their mistakes instead of your own. Obviously that’s not a life of integrity.
-Grace Llewellyn, Educator
Scouting offers an unusually good opportunity for boys to live their own lives independently to develop integrity. Scouts should be able to honestly say: ‘we did it ourselves’.
We do not have greater intelligence than the young; we simply have more experience. Experience lends anyone (even stupid people) an air of intelligence. We’ve all been in situations where someone is doing something for the first time that we have done many times and find it difficult not to offer advice or give direction. That is why one often hears ‘when I was your age’ or ‘back when I was in school’. Unsolicited advice is altruistic; we’ve done it, made the mistakes and want to save young people the difficulty, suffering, disappointments and wasted time.
What we forget all too often is that everyone has to create his or her own world. By living your own life, making your own decisions dealing with your own mstakes and achieving your own victories you create a life of integrity.