October 31, 2009

October 31^st…Halloween.

October 31^st…birthday of Juliette Gordon Low…Founder of Girl Scouting.

Question: If Juliette Low were alive today, why would she be considered remarkable?

(No, the answer is NOT because she would be 149 years old!!!)

If Juliette Low were alive today, she would be considered remarkable because she would still be regarded as a pioneer who created something that no one else did, or has, since that time – that time in 1912.

Juliette “Daisy” Low was born 18-months before the start of the American Civil War. She came from a well-to-do family, one of six children. A bright youngster, Daisy was creative and talented as a child, who early-on had a love for the arts. As a child, she wrote poetry, sketched, and wrote and acted in plays. In adulthood she was a skilled painter and sculptor.

After meeting and working in England with Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, Daisy became interested in the new youth movement. Upon her return home to Savannah, Georgia she called a cousin, saying, “I’ve got something for the girls of Savannah, and all America, and all the world, and we’re going to start it tonight!” That was March 9^th.

Three days later, on March 12, 1912 in Savannah, eighteen girls met in two patrols, named Carnation and White Rose.

Girl Scouting was created.

Two years later there were 1,000 registered Girl Scouts. One year after that, 1915, there were 5,000 members. By 1918 membership was at 9,714!!!

If you’ve been following my other blogs, you know I am fascinated by communication technology and the rate at which new tools are becoming available to us on an almost daily basis. See where I’m going here?

Juliette Low created something unique, marketed it, promoted it, organized it and made it into something never before created, or since replicated. And she did it with no internet, no facebook, no twitter, no blogging, no cell phone. She did have a telephone, but it did not even have numbers, a rotary or buttons on it. When she picked up the receiver (the piece you talk into J) she was connected with an operator – a real live person who would then connect her to someone else who was fortunate enough to have a telephone…and if there was no one at the other end, she could not leave a message…because there were no answering machines.

If Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low were able to be here today, she might think that we are pretty amazing because of all that we have available to us today. But I would go up to her and tell her how truly remarkable I thought SHE was – creating something that spread like wildfire, and became a part of our nation’s history!

And she did it in the dark ages of communication.

Happy Halloween everyone…and Happy Birthday, Daisy!

Mary Connell, CEO