10 Good Turns

The sorrow over what happened in Newtown,CT has further been compounded for those of us involved in Scouting by learning that 8 of the little girls whose lives were lost were Daisy Girl Scouts and 2 of the little boys were Tiger Cub Scouts. As leaders we stress to our Scouts the connection between themselves and every other Scout all over the world. They wear symbols of that association on their uniforms. Girl Scouts promise to be a "Sister to every other Girl Scout." I think we should find a way to make this real to our Scouts, to help them learn to take positive action in the face of tragedy.


A suggestion making the rounds online is doing 26 random acts of kindness as a remembrance of the 26 victims of random violence. I think this is a splendid idea. But as Scouters I would particularly like to see each of us commit to doing 10 Good Turns, one for each of our lost Scouts, whether in our Troops or on our own. I presented this idea to my Girl Scout Troop tonight. They liked the idea and are going to try. If you are a leader I hope you will suggest it to your Scouts as well.


We who are leaders all know the sweet innocent excitement of Daisies and Tigers. Their commitment and enthusiasm is infectious. They totally believe in their Promise and strive to follow it. We can do the same in their honor. Big deeds or small, public or private., let's all do 10 Good Turns. For them.