What A Cookie Can Do

Designed by Juliette Low, the sole emblem of the Girl Scouts of the USA from 1912 until 1976 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I stole that phrase from Gracie’s troop leader and our cookie mom this year.  That was our theme for cookie sales and our cookie booth.  This is one of those posts that was going to be all passive-aggressive and bitchy but I decided to take my virtual scissors and snip all of that out and replace it with something constructive and, well, the opposite of passive-aggressive and bitchy. 

There are some people who refuse to buy Girl Scout cookies because of what they think Girl Scouts represents or because Girl Scouts are too tolerant of certain things.  They end up “taking a stand” because they think that morally, they’re making a point by not buying cookies and generally not supporting the Girl Scouts.

Remember the teen girl and others who tried to get everyone to boycott Girl Scout cookies this year because of a troop that accepted a transgendered child (boy to girl) as a member? Or the huge stink that was made over Girl Scouts coming out in support of Planned Parenthood… one non-profit organization for the empowerment of girls and women supporting a group of health centers for families because of the issue that a few Planned Parenthoods offer elective pregnancy terminations in addition to medically necessary ones.  People forget that PP provides health care for people with limited or no income… people who otherwise wouldn’t receive any health care at all.  That includes children and men.

Then you have the fact that some people actually believe that Girl Scouts fund Planned Parenthood.  Because, you know, there’s so much leftover money from those cookie sales going into our community and troop projects that we pump whatever is left into saving up for the girls’ first abortions during college.  Please, people.  Rather than listen to rumor and old men talking about women’s uteruses/uterii/whatever during a men’s club meeting where women aren’t allowed, do some research.  Here, I’ll start you off.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/girlscouts.asp

Girl Scouting is about raising girls to become strong, independent, skilled, confident female leaders.  These girls learn life skills and build bonds with their sister scouts at every meeting.  They learn about economics, building relationships, trade skills, camping and outdoor skills, household skills, crafting skills, team building skills, community service projects, more community service projects, working toward worthy goals, doing something for nothing, supporting their families, and they display higher self-esteem (statistically) than girls who don’t participate.  These benefits last a lifetime.

There are activities planned for every meeting.  The girls go on field trips.  They go camping.  They have pen pals that are fellow Girl Scouts from across the country or across the globe.  They learn about scouting from all over the world.  These girls become part of the world wide community in addition to their local communities.

Refusing to buy cookies or refusing to “morally” support Girl Scouts because of a single issue is short sighted and narrow minded, in my humble opinion.  Girl Scouts don’t stand for abortion.  They don’t stand for political gain.  Neither do the cookies.  The cookie sales help the girls learn:

• Goal setting
• Decision making
• Money management
• People skills
• Business ethics
• Girl Scouts learn life skills and are able to realize their goals—and they have fun!
• Customers get a great product and get to support girls in their own community.
• All of the proceeds support Girl Scouting in the local community.
  http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/

They stand for themselves in becoming strong young women.  They advocate for girls and women of ALL backgrounds, for their civil and legal rights locally and globally.  They are firm in morals and in knowing what’s right and wrong.  That’s what those cookies do.

At every meeting the girls recite this promise:

The Girl Scout Promise

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

The girls all know the Law and are expected to live by it.  This is what the cookies do.

The Girl Scout Law

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.