12 SIMPLE WORDS
John W. Kennedy
$20.00 paperback
ISBN: 9798350966152
October 23, 2024

 

 

   

 

 

A memoir in which the author reflects on his guiding principles.

In his nonfiction debut, industrial/mechanical engineer Kennedy looks back on his childhood. He was a kid who couldn’t sit
still. “In today’s world educators might determine that I was ADD, ADHD, or some form of OCD,” he writes, “but back in the
[60s] I was just another hyperactive boy who needed to learn to sit down and listen.” He credits his mother for patiently
helping him build discipline, and he credits the Scout Law, which came to mean a great deal to him as he grew older, with
helping him form his own moral code. Famously, the Scout Law is summed up in the 12 things every Scout must strive to
be: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. While these
words are simple, he assures his readers that adopting these objectives can be a fulfilling lifetime practice. By way of
demonstration, his book includes testimonials from a wide variety of people, each reflecting on some aspect of the Scout
Law. Business strategist Pavithra Lakshminaryan, for example, concentrates on “reverence” and looks back on all the help
and moral instruction she received from her parents (“I am forever indebted to them for teaching me the importance of
humility and gratitude”). Retired executive Catherine Zanotti writes about the importance of being trustworthy, specifically
in the context of caring for her husband, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. (“He is confident that I will take care of
whatever needs to be done for him.”) Some of the testimonials are cliched, and many readers might wish Kennedy had
done more of the talking himself, since his book otherwise displays sharp prose. (“I am all for diversity, as it makes us all
better,” he writes in defense of his approach. “That certainly includes the diversity of thought.”) Still, Kennedy ably conveys
the importance and relevance of the Boy Scout ethos to him and others.

Appropriately, a cheerful and helpful application of the Scout Law to the complexities of adulthood.