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Karmayogi Sri Kesarimalji Surāņā Abhinandana Grantha : Seventh Part
yet. But we cannot say with any certainty that history might not repeat itself in the case of the Scout/Guide movement. Historical laws of growth and decay operate unwittingly and in a remorseless and relentless manner. The ScoutGuide movement may meet the same fate as other movements in history have had their doomsday unless it is wrenched out from its conventional wisdom and adapted to the needs of the living times. "The scouting of today and tomorrow," observes Dr. Lasylo Nagy, Secretary General, World Scout Bureau, "should have three principal characteristics namely ---faithful, modern and useful." It must remain faithful to the ideology that inspired its founder. This is necessary for maintaining its identity. But the ideology is an abstract concept. It has to be translated into a plan of action which helps an individual scout/ guide to grow physically, intellectually, aesthetically and morally and prepares him to give his own contribution to the community.
The needs of community change very often. But due to the frequent and startling changes in science and technology the dimensions of social change in the community are taking such rapid strides that it is becoming difficult to keep harmony between social organisation and the technological advancement. In view of this, the Scout/Guide movement has to play an important role in establishing an equation between the extraneous forces of science and technology and the rigid forces of community organisation. The social and economic life of the communities all over the world have reflected tremendous change and impact on the artifacts, social organisations and the value systems of the masses. It may not be possible, perhaps, for our young Scouts and Guides to help the communities in remoulding their community organisation and rebuilding its system of values. But it would be certainly legitimate to demand of them to help the citizens use and maintain artifacts properly which technology has bestowed on them for their use at home and in the locality. The young Scouts and Guides should be so retrained as to make them useful for catering to the needs of modernisation which technological advancement has impinged on them. No living movement, dedicated to serve humanity selflessly, can afford to lag behind the rapid and all-round advancement effected in the community life on account of a chain of explosions of scientific knowledge. If a movement or an association wants to keep itself abreast of the factchanging patterns of living, it has to keep its programmes and reorientation. Some training programmes of scouting have lost their practical utility. Signalling, for example, has become quite obsolete. With the advent of electronics, sensitive and powerful wireless sets and walkly talkies the communication has become quick and exact. Moreover, they are used round the clock and for far-off distances. If scouting sticks to training in singalling, it will be of very little utility.
Not only do we need to give up the programmes which have ceased to have any relevance to the modern life of the communities; but there is also an equally pressing need to reinforce and reinterpret the existing programme in the light of the emerging needs of the community. One of the programmes of scouting which needs revitalisation is the First Aid.
The FIRST AID in Scouting is limiting to rendering preliminary aid to the injured only. With a wide net-work of Red Cross activities the FIRST AID training programme in scouting has become redundant. At almost every games and sports meet or in fairs one finds tents that display large white banners with big red crosses on their panels. It is rendering expertised First Aid to the victims of accident. It especially acts as an agency to prevent outbreak of epidemics in huge gathering of human being. Hence the FIRST AID training programme of Scouting has to seek new avenues to serve the community in its different walks of life. The Red Cross serves human lives, but it is not only the animates that need first aid, but also the inanimates which are
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