I have two reasons for not buying Girl Scout cookies:
1. I was thrown out of the GS for refusing to sell them when I was 11 yo. I don't blame them -- they weren't shrinks who could comprehend that a seemingly gregarious child would be too painfully shy to go door to door; and
2. Since I lost 100 pounds decades ago, I've cut out sweets almost entirely -- unless forced on me by Italian/Jewish/Polish friends.
Why am I even bringing this personal choice up on a day we have all lost an hour? Well, yesterday I encountered an enthusiastic group of mini-soon to be women with their mothers and a table of cookies outside the grocery store. I knew I had to handle them face to face.
One kid was dressed up in a homemade cookie costume -- sort of cruel and hilarious but she seemed delighted. Four kids made the pitch -- I told them that I don't eat Girl Scout cookies -- or any kind of cookies. They scanned the parking lot for the next target while giving me a bit of a "look." The mothers, to their credit, maintained tight smiles and said, "have a good day." I didn't move.
I took out my wallet and handed them $10 -- not much. I said, "I don't eat cookies because of health stuff. Please accept this donation because of the recent insane pushback against your organization."
The little girls looked at me like I was some old schoolteacher saying something incomprehensible. The mothers froze for a second, then broke into huge smiles and thanked me profusely.
This isn't a story about the bad crap that is in GS cookies (trust me, I'd be downing 3 boxes of thin mints today if I didn't know I'd be 3 pounds heavier tomorrow). It isn't a story about some childhood trauma -- I'm still painfully shy with strangers. It is a little anecdote about women in one of the most Republican towns in Western CT. Granted, CT Republicans are not generally insane.
When I came out of the store after returning two newly bought cheeses which could serve as tire patches, the women stopped me. Both were in their 30s -- women who never had to think about the battle for birth control or abortion until now (we're in CT after all). It was a short conversation about women's rights and their changing attitudes re: Planned Parenthood and lesbians! The mothers all agreed that Limbaugh pushed them over the edge. The discussion was interrupted by two 9 year olds asking what we were talking about.
One mother -- I'll never forget her and hope I see her again -- said: "Honey, we are talking about you and your friends. We are talking about what you are learning in Girl Scouts about how you can do anything and make your own decisions."
Best day of my life refusing to buy GS cookies.
Blessings for those mothers and for the little girls who will hopefully continue the fight.