The greeting delivered by Konstantinos Tasoulas at the Presidential Palace on the morning of Saturday, October 10, was truly memorable, as members of the Greek Scout Corps gathered for a special ceremony. The President of the Republic presented special insignia and honorary Scarves of the Nation’s Scout, speaking about the core goals of the scouting movement — including the pursuit of peace — as well as the allure of personal responsibility, which he described as a “blessing” to embrace. True to form, Konstantinos Tasoulas drew on verses by the poet Kostis Palamas and a memorable passage from “Ascesis,” written by Nikos Kazantzakis.
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Tasoulas’ address to the Scouts
Dear Nation’s Scouts, dear parents — it is with great joy that I welcome you today to the Presidential Palace, a building that spans three successive centuries — the 19th, the 20th, and the 21st — and that today hosts one of the most significant events of the Greek Scout Corps.
I observe on one side the vitality of your children, and on the other, your well-founded hopes for them — young people embarking on life’s adventure equipped with a remarkable asset: their time in scouting and the distinction they have so deservedly earned today, the title of Nation’s Scout.
I was particularly struck by the words of those who spoke before me — that today’s recognition is not a conclusion, but a starting point for conquering new summits. I was equally moved by the reminder to these Scouts always to carry out their duty with humility toward their fellow human beings, and that this distinction, while a source of pride, must never become a source of arrogance or conceit.
All the messages conveyed at today’s ceremony bring to mind a magnificent poem by Kostis Palamas, which speaks of summits and humility. Palamas writes: “No matter how many mountains you climb, from their peaks you will always see other peaks, higher ones, another world beckoning — and when you reach the very highest summit, you will realize that you are, as before, beneath all the stars.”
No matter how high we climb, then, nature — God’s creation — will always be what surrounds and encompasses us. And I am glad that scouting recognizes its connection with the natural world, and therefore the protection of nature, as one of its core priorities. This is precisely why it has adopted the UN’s 2030 Agenda, approved in September 2015, which encompasses the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Among the foremost of these goals are the promotion of peace and justice, the protection of the environment, the safeguarding of public health, and the spread of education across the world. Scouting — in which your children have served and excelled — is one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest, educational movements in the world.
It began in 1907 — and in Greece just three years later — and has captured the hearts, loyalty, and participation of approximately 30 million young people worldwide. Greece plays a leading role in the global scouting movement, with its own devoted members, who are prepared from the tender age of six to face life’s exciting adventure armed with the values of scouting.
For all these reasons, I wished today — continuing a tradition that, as I have learned, dates back to 1915, when the institution of the Nation’s Scout was first established — not merely to present the Scarf, which bears the meander pattern, one of the oldest symbols in Greek archaeology, but to have this ceremony take place here, at the Presidential Palace.
In other words, to place this new and hopeful chapter in your children’s lives quite literally under the shelter of the State. During the ceremony, I saw the joy of boundless possibility in their eyes — the joy with which they will set out on life’s journey, having completed one phase and stepping forward into the next.
There are many ways in which a state and a society can approach youth. Pedagogical schools of thought and state practices have been applied throughout the centuries. Young people are sometimes treated propagandistically, and sometimes with excessive flattery — with those who flatter them shamelessly seeking to become particularly popular among young voters, who in Greece gain the right to vote at the age of 17.
At other times, youth is approached through education. Yet what has always distinguished and enriched the most meaningful approaches to young people is the reminder that personal responsibility should not be seen as a burden — as many in Greece tend to view it — but as a blessing, as a captivating way of engaging with life.
In “Ascesis,” one of Nikos Kazantzakis’ most widely read works, he writes: “Love responsibility. Say: It is my duty, and mine alone, to save the world. If it is not saved, I am to blame.” These words are, of course, an exaggeration. Yet through that very exaggeration, they illuminate the appeal of individual responsibility and the power of a person who takes their first steps in life fully aware that they possess the tools and the qualities to shape their own destiny to a great degree.
Because there are other factors in life — such as luck and health — that we do not fully control. But when you begin life guided by the principles of scouting, the crown and essence of which is personal responsibility, then it is certain that you will seize life with steady hands and very likely steer it toward where you wish to go, on the strength of your efforts, your hard work, and your goals.
It is therefore vital that young people be raised on the principles of scouting and that this journey be celebrated with ceremonies such as today’s — ceremonies with a tradition stretching back more than a century. Your children will study, work, become parents, and care for you in turn — but they will never, ever forget this period of their lives, which laid solid foundations for their success and for the responsibility with which they will navigate their path.
It is remarkable how every message embedded in scouting points toward a better world — the same world that all ideologies, worldviews, and political movements aspire to build, at least in their rhetoric. Scouting distills the highest aspirations of humanity: solidarity, reconciliation, peace, the protection of nature, and the responsibility of each person toward themselves, toward their neighbor, and toward the world at large.
Today, I had the joy and the honor of presenting these honorary distinctions here at the Presidential Palace, and of looking into the eyes of your children — eyes that shone with the joy of boundless possibility. And I saw in you, their parents, the love, the devotion, and the care you have for them. From today, you can rest a little easier, confident that their journey through life will be better and more secure, thanks to everything they have gained through their scouting experience — and not merely gained, but excelled in.
Our country needs a generation of young people who embrace these principles — who love their nation, their faith, their homeland, and their natural environment, and who face the challenges of the future with a sense of responsibility. And I am certain that such a generation will help Greece build a better future — the future we all dream of, each of us in our own personal journey, and all of us together in our collective endeavor.
I therefore thank the Greek Scout Corps for its enduring commitment to preparing young people for life’s great challenges, and I once again congratulate your children, who have reached this highest of peaks — yet feel, as the poem reminds us, that they still stand beneath all the stars, and who gaze ahead with optimism at a life that opens before them, generous and full of promise.
