Girl Scouts march in DC

[Eagledad]

http://mashable.com/2017/01/18/girl-scouts-inaugural-parade/#_LSYzM4TTsqf

 

It will be interesting to see the responses.

 

Barry

[Stosh]

A lot of animals go after their young, some kill them and some even eat them.  It's sad when humans use children as the leverage for divorce, crime, and a variety of different political movements. 

 

This practice has been around since the dawn of time and there doesn't seem to be much hope for it ending any time soon.

[qwazse]

Somebody somewhere is tweeting shame on GS/USA for being patriotic and not partisan?

My only public post regarding GS/USA is:

 

"Hey, girl scouts, I have a door, and a phone.

Your moms' cookie sells announcement mean nothing to me."

[Stosh]

Somebody somewhere is tweeting shame on GS/USA for being patriotic and not partisan?

My only public post regarding GS/USA is:

 

"Hey, girl scouts, I have a door, and a phone.

Your moms' cookie sells announcement mean nothing to me."

 

It is my policy that any scout (Boy or Girl) that is in full uniform selling anything, I will buy something. 

 

I had one boy from a former unit come to my house (15 mile drive) and ask me to buy some geraniums.  I looked at him from head to foot (he was not wearing his uniform).  I said, "Not now, maybe tomorrow."  He can back the next day in full uniform and made a $50 sale.

 

Ditto on the patriotic many in our society often miss.  It would seem that with the heavy emphasis on winning and everyone feeling good about their participation awards, when they don't win what they want, sportsmanship goes out the window rather quickly.  Fake trophies do not teach people about being gracious losers.  That's coming back to haunt us today.

[NJCubScouter]

Since the "article" that Eagledad linked to cuts the GSUSA's response down to one paraphrased sentence, I thought I would post the full statement of their interim CEO, credit Time magazine, http://time.com/4640033/girl-scouts-inauguration-march/

 

Girl Scouts CEO: Why Our Girls Are Marching In the Inaugural Parade

 

Sylvia Acevedo @SylviaAcevedo Jan. 19, 2017

 

Sylvia Acevedo is Interim CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA.

 

'Our legacy is one of uniting, not dividing'

 

At Girl Scouts, our job is to mold today’s girls into tomorrow’s leaders. Our mission is to help them tap into their inner leadership potential by standing up for the causes they believe in and striving to take action on the issues important to them. But what does that look like in a polarized age of hyper-partisanship? How do we encourage girls to speak out when it seems everything people say these days gets filtered and twisted through the lens of politics?

 

Ultimately, it comes down to the values we seek to instill in girls. Values like inclusivity, respectfulness and standing for what they believe in are what girls learn at Girl Scouts. These are the values on which our movement is built, and they will still be the driving force behind Girl Scouts 100 years from now. Indeed, values like these transcend the politics of a given moment, reverberating throughout time. That’s why Girl Scouts has been the preeminent girl leadership organization for over a century.

 

This Friday, approximately 75 Girl Scouts will march in the 2017 Presidential Inaugural Parade—something they have planned for and worked toward since September, and something Girl Scouts have done throughout history for presidents from both parties. As a nonpartisan organization, Girl Scouts takes no position on political matters; yet, perhaps not surprisingly, many people have reacted with shock and even anger over the fact that Girl Scouts will march in this particular inaugural parade.

 

Throughout our history, the Girl Scout movement has been used as a political sounding board for people and groups trying to make political statements. Our organization is widely cherished as a piece of Americana, and, as such, people can feel a certain kinship with our brand. This means people see Girl Scouts as a reflection of their own values and ideals.

 

The 2016 presidential election was one of the most polarizing in our history, and it elicited wide-ranging and deep-seated emotions. When people see your organization as an extension of themselves, they may claim a certain ownership of your brand. This means they can feel shocked and even betrayed by certain actions, such as, in this case, girls participating in the presidential inaugural parade, as if those actions were directed against them personally, rather than supporting girls eager to participate in a peaceful transition of power.

 

Being truly nonpartisan means that we keep our focus on the girls—girls who are every bit as diverse and varied as the nation they represent. It means we work to ensure that every girl has a home at Girl Scouts. It means we can no more turn our back on 75 girls who have chosen to participate in the inauguration than we can on the thousands across the country participating in the Women’s March on Washington the following day.

 

At Girl Scouts, our legacy is one of uniting, not dividing, and our mission is fundamentally about bringing girls of all backgrounds together to discover their talents and unlock their leadership potential, so that they can lead all of us to the promise of a better day.

[ianwilkins]

They're only in girl scouts for a few years, and will probably only get one shot at marching at an inauguration. Why deny them that? One assumes as Girl Scouts are non-partisan that they aren't marching for the president's benefit, but for patriotic and civic reasons.

 

The screeching of the easily offended is grating. Berating people who've come to a decision based on different motives. 

[Stosh]

After a while, one is taught to basically tune out such things.  It's unfortunate that after a while of having one's awareness raised that they will tune it out along with other background noise.  A major issue might deserve some focused attention, but not every little annoyance that might come one's way. 

 

I think it's great that the Scouts, both Girl and Boy will be in the parade.  It's the right thing to do, kinda like flying the flag on the 4th of July.  If that's offensive to anyone, it's unfortunate, but it's not going to sway my opinion one bit.

[NJCubScouter]

I suppose its to be expected that this thread could not go three full posts before veering off into Girl Scout cookie sales.

 

On the other hand, it is a refreshing change to have a thread in this forum that contains praise for the GSUSA.

Edited January 20, 2017 by NJCubScouter

[Stosh]

I'm thinking the gals ought to sell cookies along the parade route.......

[Eagledad]

The local news reported on this and it was all positive about how the girls are excited to be there. I think it will help membership and cookie sales.

 

Barry

[SSScout]

No chance for rebuttal on Mashable. I don' tweet.  It is telling that only negative tweets are quoted. 

There are only two choices here:

One,  be a good citizen and participate in the process.  Speak your truth to power.  Point fingers when the emperor has no clothes.  Remind folks when lies are said,  histories ignored or forgotten. Proclaim your standards and live up to them.  Demonstrate peacefully about things of importance. 

 

Two, resign from society, accept things as they are and do little of consequence. Point your finger but do nothing to correct the problems or the source of the problem. 

 

Is Mr. Trump seen as a failed human?  It is unfortunate that one's history is correctly used to predict one's future.  The College Board can agree with that.   Mr. Trump said and did some disagreeable things.  He has even admitted to some of them.  And he was elected President.   Now, we must make sure he lives up to our expectations of what a President should do and be. 

 

March in the parade, remind America what our young women will be by observing what they are now....  Hoo ray for GSUSA.

[Stosh]

Who in this country is so perfect that they can be totally scrutinized by both parties and end up squeaky clean?  Maybe we didn't get a polished icon of leadership, but we have a human being just like all the rest of us with our flaws and shortcomings.  This guy took on 16 Republicans and won, then took on the #1 Democrat and won.  He's got something going for him that seems to be setting a new trend which has yet to be spelled out.  Time will tell.  Well, "We've never done it this way before." so maybe that's a good thing.

[Rick_in_CA]

Throughout our history, the Girl Scout movement has been used as a political sounding board for people and groups trying to make political statements. Our organization is widely cherished as a piece of Americana, and, as such, people can feel a certain kinship with our brand. This means people see Girl Scouts as a reflection of their own values and ideals.

...

When people see your organization as an extension of themselves, they may claim a certain ownership of your brand. This means they can feel shocked and even betrayed by certain actions, such as, in this case, girls participating in the presidential inaugural parade, as if those actions were directed against them personally, rather than supporting girls eager to participate in a peaceful transition of power.

This is true about the boy scouts too. We saw this during the discussion over the BSA membership policy when people would say things like "go start your own organization, this one's ours".

 

I understand those people that choose not to participate in the inauguration, but I don't see anything wrong with a group of girl scouts marching in the parade if they wish. I hope they have a great time.