⚜ “Adventure—that’s Scouting.” But what is adventure? Webster says that it’s “That which happens without design ... hazard ... a bold undertaking ... a remarkable occurrence ... a striking event ... a stirring incident.”
To adult minds such a definition conjures up visions ... leaving the commonplace, going into the unknown. And ... most of us find it only in reading about the great and hazardous adventures of others.
We go with Perry and Stefansson to the Arctic or with Shackleton, Amundsen, Scott and Byrd to the Antarctic.
We go up the Mississippi with DeSoto or down it with LaSalle.
Or we thrill to the determination, courage and excitement in the conquest of Mt. Everest, or in flying faster than sound.
Perhaps we as adults have few things happen to us now that we call adventures. But ... let’s not forget that adventure is a relative thing.
A boy may put up a front of being sophisticated but he hasn’t lived long enough to get around much. There are still plenty of bold undertakings, remarkable occurrences and stirring incidents ahead for him.
Can’t you recall some of your own early adventures? They’d seem pretty tame to you now ... but were they then?
Within the last few years I have hiked and camped in some of the places where I hiked and camped as a Scout. I’ve been surprised to find that the forests are now only small wooded areas ... the mountains I climbed just hills ... the wide lakes hardly more than ponds.
Adventure to a boy is something that is new and different ... a change of surroundings ... experiencing new things in new ways.