Cabinet of Curiosities - Day 22

Today's curiosity is a bunch of childhood merit badges of various forms.

I hadn't remembered that I'd kept my old Scouting badges until they turned up in a box in the loft recently. It immediately took me back to my very early teens and memories of the 1st Helston Scout Troop and our adventures on camping trips to places like the New Forest and Dartmoor. Scouting did me a lot of good I reckon - not just learning useful skills but getting a feel for what it would be like to leave home one day, which I did when I was 18.

It's sad that the movement - along with Guides, Brownies, Cubs etc. - is currently in a period of crisis. It's very hard to find adults who are willing to spare the time to run these groups. Plus, there are all kinds of other factors in play, such as fear that the kids will get hurt while in your care, and the ridiculous and offensive idea that anyone who wants to work with kids must have some deviant motive. Added to that is the very structure of the organisation itself. 

Like it or not, Scouting was created during an Era of Empire and conquest and was designed along militaristic lines. That's doesn't sit too well with people these days, especially if their cultural heritage is based in those conquered countries. When Scouting was launched, the 'market' was ready for such a movement. But Western society has gone through massive changes since then and the organisation has fallen out of favour. 

I think it's a great shame as it built confidence, knowledge, skills, common sense and encouraged camaraderie, helping others and self-discipline. 

That said, I did nick the Prefect badge off a kid that I hated. 

I was never made a School Prefect. 

And probably quite rightly so.