There are no words to adequately acknowledge the tragedy suffered by our Girl Scout family this weekend. In Wisconsin, a pickup truck plowed into a Junior troop gathering trash on a roadside, killing three girls and an adult and seriously wounding another girl.
How can we possibly comment on this loss? How do Girl Scouts grieve?
My first thought was to share part of some traditional Girl Scout song, but none seemed quite right.
I also remembered an odd set of photos from the Nation’s Capital archives. It seems to be a Girl Scout honor guard at a funeral in the 1920s.
But then I thought of something else. Something much simpler, a ritual that a 9 or 10-year old’s troop mates would understand.
It is a ceremony known as “Our Last Friendship Circle.”
UPDATE: This ceremony was created by Mary Burdett of the Western Ohio legacy council.
Please share. This tradition should not be stored away in the depths of an archive.
©2018 Ann Robertson