We now come to the fourth branch of Scout training, through which, by developing his outlook, the boy gives out good to others. I should say-Selfishness. Most crimes, as recognised by law, come from the indulgence of selfishness, from a desire to acquire, to defeat, or to wreak vengeance. The average man will gladly give a contribution to feed the poor and will feel satisfied that he has then done his duty, but he is not going to dock himself of his own food and good wine to effect a saving for that purpose.
Selfishness exists in a thousand different ways.
Take, for instance, party politics. Men here get to see a question, which obviously has two sides to it, exactly as if there were only one possible side, namely, their own, and they then get to hate another man who looks upon it from the other side. The result may lead men on to commit the greatest crimes under high-sounding names. In the same way, wars between nations have come about from neither party being able to see the other's point of view, being obsessed entirely by their own interests. Strikes, too, and lockouts are frequently the outcome of developed selfishness.