Hitch Your Wagon

It’s an emotional night at my house. All of my emotions are just wrecked and hanging out on my shoulders.

President Obama just told us we should hitch our wagon to something greater than ourselves. To continue to have faith in and believe in Yes We Can.

sob.

I couldn’t even finish this last night.

In truth, I wanted to watch This Is Us and just decompress from the day.

My workday only concluded in time for me to tune into the President’s farewell speech when he was speaking to his wife and daughter. tears.

But I was keyed up already because I had just finished the first of 5 training webinar’s for my upcoming trip to NYC in March.

My council was one of three selected to send four delegates to represent girls and Girl Scouts at the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women for a week over Spring Break. I am one of the chaperones. For a week, our girls will be at the table, discussing the following: 

• Priority theme:
  Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work
• Review theme:
  Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals for women and girls (agreed conclusions of the fifty-eighth session)
• Emerging issue/Focus area:
  The empowerment of indigenous women

They will have an opportunity to serve with girls from Hawaii and Southern New England councils as well as other delegates from across the nation, and the world. They will be at the table representing the Girl space on the themes and be allowed to use their voice. They will literally be in the room where it’s happening. 

and I get to be there too.

This is going to be a game changer for these girls. What an experience.

I’m really proud that the organization I work for offers opportunities like this for girls to expand their world view, to think about more than their little bubble. They will experience travel and a big city and different modes of transportation and they will never be the same girls from Oklahoma who had maybe never left the state. (I don’t know their stories yet, but i’m on a roll here.)

And I firmly believe that this experience will help them navigate an adult life that brings issues like we are facing today.

This divisive, vitriolic culture that we’re all swimming in, watching it grow and grow until we’re dog paddling with our chins barely clear of it, and our friends, the people we have shared meals and laughter with, they refuse to throw us a life raft because they were for him and we were for her.

My hope is that these girls, will continue to have experiences that expand their world view, experiences that introduce them to people of other skin colors, people of other faiths, people who have different educations and backgrounds than they do. And because of those experiences, they have the courage to use their voice, to stand up for injustices and continue to impact their world and create change.

History has it’s eyes on you. On our president elect. On our governor. On you. On me.

I’m sickened by the sideshow. I’m confused by those who see him as the true answer.

And only time will tell…if we were on the right side of history.

Until then, I’m following this President’s call.

I’m hitching my wagon to something greater than ourselves.

I wonder what that will be for you?

For me, that something greater is our girls.

Yes. They. Can.