Why I Don’t Support #IWill

Recently, there’s been some discussion about whether or not to take the word “try” out of the Girl Scout Promise and just use “I will.”  A troop of Juniors wrote letters and recorded a video detailing why they believe the Promise should be changed.  The Heart of New Jersey council proposed a discussion topic about it for this year’s National Council Session, but it wasn’t OFFICIALLY chosen as one.  I heard that National Delegates participated in a forum about it a few weeks back, but I don’t know anything beyond that.  But I don’t support it.

So let’s start with the Promise.  We all know it by heart in some form or fashion throughout the years.  Here’s the current version:

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

Ever since the very beginning, “try” has been a part of the Promise.  Here’s the original one from the handbook How Girls Can Help Their Country published in 1913:

Girl Scout’s Promise

Each girl must promise on her honor to try to do three things:

1. 1.  To do your duty to God and to your country.
   2. To help other people at all times.
   3. To obey the Laws of the Scouts.

While we’re on it, let’s take a look at the current version of the Girl Scout Law:

I will do my best to be
honest and fair,
friendly and helpful,
considerate and caring,
courageous and strong, and
responsible for what I say and do,
       and to
respect myself and others,
respect authority,
use resources wisely,
make the world a better place, and
be a sister to every Girl Scout.

The Heart of New Jersey’s proposal also suggests removing “do my best to” from the Law so that it just reads “I will.”

Honestly, I haven’t delved much into this discussion because something just felt wrong when I first heard about it a year or so ago.  I couldn’t put my finger on why I felt this way.  Then just by happenstance, I came across a blurb in an article a few months ago from a November 1961 article in The Sheboygan Press while I was looking up some information about the Green Umbrella, a nickname given to the Council Coverage Plan which resulted in many mergers in the early 1960s.  The article talks a little about the Green Umbrella and what it would mean for the local council in that area.  It then discusses the importance of Girl Scouting.   I must have been meant to come across it because it perfectly sums up why I feel taking out the word “try” isn’t a good idea.  Here’s the excerpt that spoke to me:

The role Girl Scouting plays in a community is one of vital importance. It is hard for adults to hold on to moral values in today’s world. Difficult as it is for adults, it is infinitely more bewildering for children. One of the hardest questions is “How shall I help my child to grow up with a sense of moral values?” For this question, Girl Scouting has some answers.

[At the] Heart of Girl Scouting is the ethical code. The Brownie Scout, age 7, learns a promise to try to help other people at all times, especially those at home. This is Brownie-size morality — language and thought that a 7-year-old understands.

At age 10, the Brownie becomes a full-fledged Girl Scout and the advancement is marked, not by a performance test of skills she has acquired, but by a ceremony in which she accepts a more grown-up standard of behavior. As an intermediate Girl Scout, she now promises to try to do her duty to God and country, to obey the Girl Scout laws — the creed of honesty, loyalty, obedience and trustworthiness, a courteous, cheerful friend to all.

Two things are significant. First of all, the fact that the acceptance and practice of this creed is the only requirement of the Girl Scout at any age. Certainly skills are desirable and it is one of Girl Scouting’s great achievements that it has pioneered in offering a wide variety of experience to young girls. But wonderful though the skills may be, they are not required. The ethical code is the sole essential.

Secondly, it is characteristic of Girl Scouting that this ethical standard is based not on performance but intention. Girl Scouts promise “I will try.” There is the understanding that an ethical creed is something easily achieved. The promise to try is a promise that can be kept – and because it is realistic it becomes a promise that cannot be forgotten or ignored or saved for dress-up behavior. It is a promise for every day and everyday situations.

The article points out that the Promise and Law are ethical standards.  But nobody on this earth is perfect.  We all screw up.  Some days I’m cranky for whatever reason, and I’m not helpful to people when that happens.  I’m not always courageous and strong when I doubt myself which I struggle with quite often.  I’ve said some hurtful things before and wasn’t a sister to every Girl Scout.  If the Promise and Law were changed to only “I will,” then I would never be able to live up to them.  Nobody would, child or adult, no matter how hard they tried (there’s that word again!).

I think people sometimes equate the word “try” with failure (thanks Yoda) or selling yourself short (as the Heart of NJ proposal claims), and that’s the wrong context here.   So let’s find the right one.  I found this on Dictionary.com when I looked up the word try:

Try, attempt, endeavor, strive all mean to put forth an effort toward a specific end. Try is the most often used and most general term: to try to decipher a message; to try hard to succeed. Attempt, often interchangeable with try, sometimes suggests the possibility of failure and is often used in reference to more serious or important matters: to attempt to formulate a new theory of motion. Endeavor emphasizes serious and continued exertion of effort, sometimes aimed at dutiful or socially appropriate behavior: to endeavor to fulfill one’s obligations. Strive, stresses persistent, vigorous, even strenuous effort, often in the face of obstacles: to strive to overcome a handicap.

So really, if the word “try” just doesn’t cut it anymore in this day and age, then let’s not take it out completely.  Let’s replace it with the word “strive.”