Sermon by Rev. Holly Baylies: The Girl Scout Within

It was not too long before my daily question was answered. Shirley was my first Girl Scout leader who ran a Brownie troop for second graders at my elementary school in Somerville. My first introduction to Girl Scouting through Miss Shirley’s guidance, did follow me ‘all the days of my life’ and led to some wonderful experiences that stayed with me right through High School.

The highlight of my Scouting years came with being chosen to attend the 1965 Girl Scout Roundup in Cor’d ‘Alene, Idaho. The New England Scouts traveled by train from South Station to Idaho and it took a week to get there. We saw parts of the country I could only imagine, Museums in Chicago, the Black Hills of North Dakota , Yellowstone National Park and when we arrived in Idaho we were greeted by 12,000 Girls Scouts from 30 different nations all over the world. Even though we spoke different languages and lived in very different climates, we all had something important in common. We were all Girl Scouts. We lived in tents and cooked our own food over campfires. There was no need of language to share that common bond we all understood so well.

For those two weeks, Girl Scouts ran the world. It was a world of laughter and joy of singing, a lot of singing, and sharing gifts called potlatches we had made to bring and give away. Outside of the campground the Vietnam War was beginning to rage overseas, but inside our world, we made a pact that only the peacemakers could enter. Camping, brought us together. There was no money needed. For this short time we were all equal and free to learn how love works in a world run by Girl Scouts.

We even had our own zip code! We were a legal city of Scouts. We obeyed our own universal laws and they were good. When it came time to leave, all 12,000 girls sang “Let There Be Peace on Earth“. As we stood at the station, we made another pact that no matter what happens we will always keep our promise “to honor the worth and the dignity of every person in all of our nations. To care for one another always.”

Our world was amazing and in a sense I never left it. I will carry the sincerity and goodness of each and every one of those beautiful faces, customs and nations with me, forever.

Years later I was asked to accompany a Stoneham troop of middle schoolers to a campground in Plymouth Mass, for a weekend camp over in tents. It was right up my alley. I had learned to light a campfire with one match, put up a Baker tent in 10 minutes, lash a kitchen area with clove hitches and bowlines. I was ready for the challenge and excited to go. Finally I could use my skills as an A plus camper again.

Well, needless to say it was not as I had expected. The girls were not well versed or trained in camping as I has been. They wore heeled open toed shoes or clogs which caught in the roots and brush on woodland floor. They spent more time falling down than building up their sites! Several girls brought boom boxes and wandered around hunting for trees with electrical boxes to plug them into. Then there were bugs, lots of, e-w-w-w-w- bugs, buzzing and biting and girls running in every direction and screaming and itching and oh it was awful. Some tents fell down in the middle of the night during a huge lightening and thunder storm. It was so bad one leader packed up her drenched kids and went home. Fires went out, the food was cold and everyone was miserable. Something was very wrong.

This was not the tough, hearty, woodsy and camping trained Scouting I remembered. Times had changed, as the world has changed with every generation of Scouts. During the depression, as one former Scout recalled, it cost .20 cents to go to camp and it took all week to earn it by selling home made fudge to the local bakery.

In retrospect I think times are much harder for you than they were for us.

We did not grow up with violence on television. There were no computers or internet or chat lines, or I-pods or cell-phones, VCR’s or CD’s. The worst thing I ever saw, happened in a Disney movie when Bambi died and I cried. I did not grow up with videogames that fostered killing as a sport. I did not grow up with drugs and guns in my own neighborhood. I was very protected from all of these things because they didn’t exist in the way in which they do today.

This is a world like no other that needs you, that desperately needs a different kind of self-discipline than it took to master the skills of camping. It needs your Promise, your service, your understanding and willingness to address all the obstacles you face in this day and age. It needs your courage to say NO to that which destroys the goodness in our living, and your willingness to wear your uniform with pride and with conviction.

How many here today are or have been Girl Scouts? Please stand as you are able, to and be recognized… (Many stood!)

Generations before and those to come after us have made a difference and it begins with one to the next, person to person, teaching learning, sharing and passing on that same promise that bonded The Scouts of the 1930’s and the girls of 30 nations in the last Girl Scout Roundup held 42 years ago, “to honor the worth and the dignity of every person in all of our nations. To care for one another always.”

That is the one thing that will never change in Scouting, to create a lasting bond of respect for ourselves and for one another and between our nations. It is a very difficult challenge.

When we look back at the 95 years of Scouting, to it’s founder, a woman who suffered from a serious hearing impairment who loved to paint and draw and sculpt; who was very wealthy but very unhappy as she had no children of her own, Juliet Gordon Low found her life’s passion at the age of 51 when she founded the Girl Scouts in the United States in 1912. She used her money to support the first programs and troops, to give girls a chance to become the best they could be. She expected times to change and scouting to change with them.

And it has. There are 40 million scouts in this country and in 140 other countries all over the world. There are more famous scouts than I can begin to name from every profession, astronauts, to bankers, actresses, amazing mothers, politicians, artists and musicians to name a few. Then there is us, everyone of us, who are the voice of the future, who will carry on one of the greatest and most progressive traditions for women in all of history.

If Juliet was alive today she might give you following advise:

Do not hide from the times, be ready for them, face front, with all the love and service you can give to your fellow human beings. Make your decisions with honor, do not be afraid to say no, when your standards are threatened. Use your money wisely, give to those who are striving to make this world a better place but save enough so that some day when you find your passion, you can see it come true.

Juliet might tell you that there is no disability that can keep you from finding the place you were meant to be in this life, even if it means changing your plans . Alone you can accomplish some things, but together you can achieve the impossible. Protect and love this planet and it’s creatures, for it is our only home. Make laughter part of your day and joy your most precious gift.

Cherish your faith, listen to its kind message and seek it’s guidance and wisdom, for the truth of our mission lies within each of us.

May your vision of a world run by Girls Scouts come true, for I know it would be a place where all people everywhere could live in freedom, in friendship and in peace.

Bless you all, and thank for sharing this day with us.

So be it. AMEN.

Menu