Global Impact

"We never know how far reaching something we may think, say or do today will affect the lives of millions tomorrow"  
--  B. J. Palmer, Chiropractic developer

 We talk a great deal in our Gold Award Take Action Training about what "sustainable" and "global impact" are, to the confusion of many! So when I read this quote by Dr. Palmer, it really got me to thinking about what a wonderful thing it is, this "Take Action."

We're asking our Gold Award girls to create a Take Action Project that is robust!  That makes a difference in their community now...and for the future. And we're asking them to measure their impact. And while they can do it for the short term - the length of their project - how will they/we ever know the full impact they made?

I think about Shannon and her Domestic Violence Club at school.  A huge, tough issue, to be sure! And she connected to it through Safe Teen Dating, but it's really a shame that she will probably never be able to look back in 5 or 10 years and say, "because of that club X number of kids walked away from bad relationships and found good ones."  All she can do is hope that she made a difference in one? some? many? teenagers' lives.

Or Kayla who worked with the ESL 1st and 2nd graders at a Title One school.  It was a statistic learned in middle school that set her on the track of promoting literacy.  She connected by giving kids books, reading to them, creating videos that they could follow along with a book, and hosting a reading faire at the school.  But will she ever know if she made a difference in even one of those kid's lives?  We have to hope so. 

We never know how far the reach is on the projects our girls carry out.  But we need them to talk about it, to think about the "what if" and how it could play out.  Our girls can do it!!!  We just need to give them a nudge (okay, maybe a bit of a shove) to think about the larger consequences of their Action.