A Friend to All the World

Remember, too, that a Scout is not only a friend to the people round him, but "a friend to all the world". Friends don't fight each other. If we make friends with our neighbours across the sea in foreign countries, and if they keep friends with us, we shan't want to fight. And that is by far the best way of preventing future wars and of making sure of lasting peace.

One thing which brings about wars is the fact that people of the different countries know very little about each other personally, but are told by their governments that the right thing is to fight. So they fight and are all jolly sorry for it afterwards.

If they had been good friends in peace time they would have understood each other better and would never have come to blows.

Nowadays travelling has become so much easier and distances have become so much smaller through motor transport, aeroplanes, and radio that people of different countries have a better chance of getting to know each other more closely.

Then the Boy Scout and Girl Guide (Girl Scout) Movements have spread among the nations. As Scouts we can visit many different countries about the world and find Brother Scouts in each of them, all acting under the same Law and Promise and doing the same Scout work as ourselves. Already thousands of Scouts of different nations are making trips to each other's countries regularly on interchange visits. In this way they have the fun of seeing what, other countries are like, and what is more important, they are getting to know one another as friends and not as mere "foreigners".

Author

Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell (Chief Scout, London, UK)

Date of Creation

1908

Learn A Continuation:

to the next page: The World Brotherhood of Scouting

Back in The Past:

to the previous page: When You Grow Up