The Power of One Woman's Actions: Juliette Gordon Low

Today, and all year really, we get to celebrate the commitment and focused actions of Juliette Gordon Low of Savannah, Georgia, who brought the English notion of Girl Guides (thank you, Lady Baden Powell) to America and organized the first Girl Scout troop here.

I was briefly a Brownie, and loved being a Cadette. My mom grew up in hard times, took a two-year degree in nursery-school teaching, and as a mother herself, was committed to making sure her kids got the opportunities she'd missed. She made sure I got to all of my Cadette meetings (at the little brown stone church -- Presbyterian? -- in Montclair, NJ). And in those meetings and my Girl Scout Handbook, I learned how to talk about honor, commitment, and balance: all things that my parents were trying to teach, but without the verbal framework. It shaped my life and still does.

Here's a great site to visit today in honor of 100 years of "growing girls" and service to community, as well as carefully nurtured friendships: http://www.girlscouts.org/gsforevergreen/

And her's the song I've been humming this morning

Girl scouts together that is our song
Winding the old trails, rocky and long
Learning our motto, living our creed
Girl scouts together in every good deed.
Girl scouts together happy are we
Friendly to neighbors far o're the sea
Faithful to country loyal to home
Girl scouts together wherever we roam.
Girl scouts together onward we go
Joining as sisters stronger we grow
Mothers and lawyers, women in space
We know no boundaries, the future's our place. 

 For more on Juliette ("Daisy") Gordon Low, click here. And here's a wonderful photo: