Good deeds are always worth it!

A good turn a day was one of the original concepts of scouting over a hundred years ago. This has been one of the things that scouts have been made fun out of for: Everyone, I'm sure, has heard something like: "Ah, you're a scout! So you help little old ladies across the street then?" A good turn has turned into community service activities, fundraising and lots of other great charity activities. But I do think that we shouldn't miss out the "a good turn a day" from the program.

Especially the younger members need the clarity of that concept: A large community project is difficult to grasp, and collecting money is easy, and undemanding, and if it's not followed up by proper discussion, or, like in Akela Joy's case a concrete, tangiable result of the effort.

I try to do my good deeds. Not that I think about it very often, I just try and be as a generous and helpful person as possible. It's not that difficult: Holding the door open for a collegue, helping a lost student out in the liberary, sharing lesson materials... Sometimes I "pay it forward" and buy a bag for the next shopper in line, or ask the staff at my favourite café to treat the next customer to coffee on me.

A good turn should be done not expecting any thanks or rewards. The satisfaction of knowing you've made someonelses day a little bit easier should be enough. And, if you believe in it, it helps your Karma.

This winter it has been rather easy to get the good turns in, as there has been ridiculous amounts of snow to shovel, and the neighbours have been poorly, so my husband and I have tried to do their bits of pavement as well as our own. They've kept an eye on our house when we've been away and are always so nice, so it's not a huge effort.

The greatest reward is knowing that we've helped out. An unexpected bonus was the two envelopes we recieved today. One was a voucher to use in our favourite coffee shop, one had a substansial sum of cash. We tried to give it back, but they wouldn't have it, so we've decided to use it for a family meal in a restaurant. Good karma.