A Vision for the Future

“Vision enables you to glimpse into the future,

to sense its hope and power,

because you yourself are the means

for that future's creation."

                                              - Sara Paddison, author

Each girl is a part of her community, and it could be that this is the community that she will be in for the rest of her life!  Not a bad thing, though I do hope she also is able to visit and learn about people in other parts of the country.  But it's true, many of us come back to our roots, to home.

So as our girls are looking for a Gold Award Project, perhaps we want to encourage them to glimpse the future, and to see how they can make a difference now, so that they can influence the future.  Dream Big!  is another way to say this.  Perhaps we can ask, "what issue is so vitally important to you, that you can see making a difference in YOUR community now for the future?"  I wonder what she'd say?

For some, it might be a very visceral response, if domestic violence is near and dear to her heart.  Our girl could express how much she hopes that what she's doing locally now about safe dating, providing resources for DV victims and education should lead to fewer DV cases in the future.  Or for the girl who is committed to literacy, perhaps her vision is that all kids in elementary schools will have 10 books each, learn to read each one, and develop a lifelong love of reading.

These girls and their projects are the helping create the future. It's in their hands.  We just need to encourage them to see it and do it.  They can. And we know it!