How does it Matter?

“When it's all over, it's not who you were.
It's whether you made a difference."
                                          - Anonymous

(This quote is going to get used on the Gold blog too!)  But today, I'm feelin' it for the Silver.  As Juniors, the girls start learning about Taking Action.  They are challenged to think about their Bronze in a new way:  not just giving service, but making a difference in their community.  And that's good!  A good beginning to the notion of Taking Action to make a sustainable change in a community.

And for the Silver,  this may be where the girls have a chance to talk about the parable, "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime."  This is where (hopefully) the maturity of the girl and her experiences in Girl Scouting (and in school) give her a way to look at the difference between a service project and a Take Action Project.  Giving a man a fish is a very nice service project. But teaching him to fish, now that's a way to make a difference in a man's life!  And a way to make a difference in many more people's lives, too.

This is all about letting the girl figure it out.  We want her to have the chance to lead, and we want her to work with a team to get more done than she could have, as an individual.  When it's all said and done, the result of Taking Action should make a difference.  She'll need to employ critical thinking skills, leadership skills, and she'll need to dive deep to come up with the issue she wants to address.

Our girls can do it! We need to give them the opportunity and support.  That's how we can make a sustainable difference.