"A Scout is Kind"

A Scout is Kind

When thinking about the meaning of the 6thpoint of the Scout Law, an encounter I had while on vacation really hit home.

18 years ago, I was traveling in Romania. In a mountain village in Transylvania, I came across a Gypsy with a ‘pet’ bear. He was on the side of the road letting people take their picture with the bear…for a fee, of course. Something about this didn’t sit right with me. I did not get a picture. Little did I know I would see him again – the bear, not the gypsy.

This summer, I found myself traveling in Transylvania again. This time, I found my way to a bear sanctuary – the largest in the world, with well over 100 bears in residence (as well as wolves and deer). All the bears were rescued – mostly from cages around Romania, where they were cheap attractions to draw in tourists.

His name is Max.

As a cub, he was taken from his family by a gypsy. He was blinded and made deaf, so that he would not see or hear what was going on around him. That gypsy used him as a novelty attraction on the streets of the mountain village, Sinaia. Tourists would pay to take pictures with Max. He persisted on a diet of beer and junk food for many years.

Eventually he was saved by Cristina Lapis who had started Libearty Bear Sanctuary.

The gypsy went to court and received about $50,000 for his ‘loss of livelihood’.

A Better Life

Max is now living in the sanctuary in a pen designed to mimic his natural environment. He is fed normal food. He lives in silence and darkness. But at least he is living in peace, away from the abuse.

A Scout is Kind

The Scout Law defines how we, as scouts interact with the world around us. With the 6thpoint, “A Scout is Kind”, we are kind to all living things. Not just people. A chance encounter from 18 years ago really brings this home for me.

You don’t need to go to a bear sanctuary to really appreciate this. Author K.A. Applegate has written an excellent book, The One and Only Ivan. It is about a gorilla in very similar circumstances to many of these bears.

I would like to encourage all scouts to add this to their summer reading list. Read it alone, or read it with an adult. And for a shameless plug to a pack ‘friend’, go to the Silver Unicorn Bookstore in West Acton to buy it (order if not in stock). www.silverunicornbooks.com.

But please remember during your travels this summer, what the 6thpoint of the Scout Law means.