”Uncle Dayo, do you know about the boy scouts club? "Yes, why did you ask?" "I have just joined the club in my school and it's very interesting”. "l was a boy scout too when l was young. lt's good to join such a group. You'll be taught so many things. Have you learnt the boy scouts oath?" ”Yes, uncle". "Can you read it to me?" "Sure, it goes .thus: ’On my honour, I will do my best.
To do to my God and my country, and to obey the scouts law; To help other peeple at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight". That's very good of you. Do you know the boy scout laws?" "Not yet uncle”
“You need to learn the scouts laws and keep them in your heart at all times. Obey the laws and you'll be successful in everything you do“.
”l'll really love to know the laws but we have not been taught yet. Can you teach me, uncle?" “Of course, I can teach you" "When will you teach me?” "If you are not doing anything now I can teach you the first three laws of a boy scout". "Oh thank you sir, I am free today. How many laws are there? I'll like to learn all" "The scout laws are twelve in number. But as l said, Hi teach you the first three today and you'll learn the remaining during my next visit to your mum" "Thank you, sir" "The first law is: a scout is trustworthy" “What is the meaning of trustworthy?" “It means that a scout should be someone we can rely on to be good, honest and sincere. He is expected to be conscious of whatever he says or does. He does not tell lies. His yes must be yes and his no must be no“.
”Can l joke with lies?...l mean, if I just want people to laugh, can I tell them something that is not true?" "No dear, never tell a lie to make people laugh. There are so many funny things around us that are true which can make people laugh". “But Why, uncle? Afterall, it's just a joke". "Dear Keji, if you want to be trustworthy, you must make sure that people won't doubt you at any time. if you make it a habit to tell lies just to make people laugh, no one will take you seriously. They will dismiss your statements with remarks such as: oh! It's one of his jokes“.
"How is speaking the truth related to being trustworthy?" "Trustworthiness requires truthfulness and honesty. Speak the truth even if it would attract punishment for you. If you can discipline yourself to be truthful at all times, soon everybody will trust you because they would have known that there is no falsehood in your nature. Trustworthiness alone is enough to make you a great man in the future. Let me tell you a story I heard from a wise man during One of my travels: "An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor, instead of choosing One of his assistants or his chiidren, he decided something different. He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "it is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. i have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued: ”i am going to give each one of you a seed today. One very specia| seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!" One boy named Ling was there that day and he,like the other, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully.
Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. . . three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he . had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot to the Palace Square where the Emperor would examine it because he did not want to be disgraced. But his mother told him to be honest about what happened. She asked him to apologize to the Emperor and confess that his seed did not grow. He must however be prepared for whatever punishment the Emperor might give him. Ling felt dejected, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, ”Hey nice try. ”
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. ”What great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the emperor. ”Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!” All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot , He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. ”The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!" When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. ”My name is Ling,” he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The Emperor asked everyone to besilent. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, ”Behold, your new emperor! His name is Ling!” Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor? Then the Emperor said, ”One year ago,.l gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today, But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor! He has proved that he can be trusted with the welfare of the empire. l am not going to punish you. You can all go home with shame for your lack of truthfulness and honesty”.
All of the other kids looked sad. They had thought that they were clever and their parents too had assisted them in the game of deceit. All of them were led out of the palace in shame while every citizen rejoiced with Ling and his parents for reaping the fruits of truthfulness. This is because a King who is not honest cannot be trusted and an untrustworthy king cannot rule successfully.”
”Thanks so much, uncle, I now understand trustworthiness. I'll try to be trustworthy like a true boy scout". Dayo took a cup of water to quench is thirst.
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