Scout organisations all over the world celebrate World Thinking Day – the appreciation holiday for all girl and boy scouts. In Poland, scouts change their profile pictures to show off their uniforms and stress how proud they are of their service for the society.
The history of Polish scouting dates back to the year 1918 when Poland regained independence. The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP) was founded by Andrzej Małkowski who was inspired by the book by Lord Robert Baden-Powell entitled “Scouting for Boys”. In the book, the English General wrote guidelines for bringing up the youth in the spirit of scouting – aiming to teach them the importance of helping people in their everyday lives, respecting nature and learning survival skills while having fun at the same time and much more. The book, which original edition was first intended as nothing more than a guidebook for surviving in the jungle for British soldiers, became an absolute hit among the youth all over the world. It turned out, that young people found immense joy in learning from each other and acquiring practical skills while “playing” outside, as well as in helping others and thus improving the state of the society. What’s interesting, the founder of Polish scouting, Andrzej Małkowski had to read “Scouting for Boys” as punishment in school but grew to like it so much, that he later went on to implement scouting in Poland, with his wife, Olga. The Polish scouts played a very important role in Poland’s fight to regain freedom in 1918, and later in the struggle against the German and Russian oppressors during the Second World War. Their traditions are deeply rooted in Polish culture and who knows in what state the country would be today if not for their valiant efforts in preserving the country’s history and values.
Today, there are almost 200,000 scouts in Poland, spread across several organisations with slightly different traditions, but what they all have in common is great, positive attitude towards life and, like their slogan “Be ready!”, their readiness to bring aid to whoever might need it with huge smiles on their faces.
Happy World Thinking Day to you, dear scouts! Czuwajcie!