Voting is No Way to Make a Decision

"Voting is no way to make a decision!", or so we were told last night at our Girl Scout meeting. Hmmm..........this particular little one was/is wrong - I think. See, we are in the beginning 2 meetings of the year and there are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many decisions that we have to make. What we are going to do, how we are going to do it, when we are going to do it, should we ask the Boy Scouts to participate if it is a service project, and the list goes on.

Last night - after voting on a few different things (and apparently everyone being happy with the results - it was a hands up voting efforts for all topics) - we had a more serious and bigger vote. It was about what Insignia Badge to purchase to represent Who Our Troop Is. For the most part our girls get along. For the most part our girls even kinda agree on most everything (yes, we are super lucky) - but some of the girls tend to sometimes do a popularity vote about things. There are always those stronger personalities - and weirdly enough our troop seems to be full mostly of strong personalities - makes for some spirit that can get loud and annoying (at least to me).

A vote like this was going to be tricky - that was understood going in. Kinda like the vote our nation is currently looking at.

A vote like this could also end up being emotional. Kinda like the vote our nation is about to make.

We had all the girls circle 1 of the badges (I think there were over 30 to choose from). Then, we had a representative from each badge stand up to speak about why that badge would represent all the girls in our troop. This is a kinda advanced concept to understand, but it was worth the request. A few of the descriptions weren't really accurate responses to the request. For instance - the Unicorn Badge girl said, "The horse is something that everyone but MW likes. So we should pick the horse because we are all going to go horse riding." When asked to elaborate she repeated the same info. However, two girls hit it dead on!

The SeaShell - The Soap Bunny on the far right above told us, "All SeaShells can be the same type, but none of them are the same. Each one is unique and each of us are unique. So we are all Girl Scouts, but we are all different in our uniqueness." Now, I am not sure if "uniqueness" is correct grammar, but she was right.

The Shooting Star - The Soap Bunny on the far left above told us, "Shooting Stars are all individuals. They are all Stars that sparkle just like we are all stars." There was a little twirling as she said this and a big sparkly smile.

I of course am biased toward the Shooting Star Soap Bunny, but I had to give it to the SeaShell Soap Bunny - she was the first to break the pattern of representation based on what we have "done in the past" and representation about "who we are and our individuality". So I voted for the SeaShell. Sorry Shooting Star Soap Bunny.
These statements reminded me again - of the current candidates in our nations up coming election.

So everyone filled out their secret ballot. No one peeked and no one tried to talk anyone else into voting any "one" way. One girl abstained from the vote, but then when she saw it was really being taken seriously she got back in and placed her vote. We tallied up the results - and SeaShell won as the representative Insignia Badge of our Jr. GS Troop.

Then came the moaning - the groaning - the claims that it wasn't fair - the claims that "I just won't wear it" and "You can't make me put it on my sash". Ugh! Of course this passed quickly - except for one little one (who is not in the picture). She kept saying that Voting wasn't Fair and the earlier mentioned statement. We didn't recount the votes, but we did point out how when the results went in her favor the other times she thought Voting was Great!! Eventually she got tired of us and the fact that we were being rational and went away.

With all the other "similarities" to our nation do you think this is one we can expect next month? The "unfair" - "you can't make me" - "I won't recognize" attitude? Unfortunately it probably will be for some. I for one plan to vote (because I believe Voting is a Great Way to make a decision) - and I think anyone who doesn't because they don't want to blamed later for the result - is a fool.

Remember November - Make Your Vote Count (even if the other guy wins).