This week, we talk about values, and how guiding has affected our personal values to make us into the people we are today.
To begin, we have to define what values are. The Oxford English dictionary describes values as "principles or standards of behaviour; one's judgement of what is important in life.” An easier way to think of them are as the non-material things that you find to be the most important in life. Examples include family, friendship, love, and selflessness.
“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave them all over everything you do.” - Elvis Presley
As Girl Guides, our values come through in our Promise and Law. As an organization, we value individuality, local and global citizenship, and our environment. We also value honesty, trustworthiness, respect, everyone's talents and abilities, courage, strength, and the sisterhood. Can you find where all of the elements come from?
“Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become values. Your values become your destiny” - Mahatma Gandhi
As the governing body of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts everywhere, WAGGGS is another body we look to find our values. Like Mahatma Gandhi said, values stem from words and actions. When we look at WAGGGS, we can find their values through their words and actions. Some of their values include empowering girls and young women, teaching life skills, leadership, advocacy, citizenship, social awareness and education.
The WAGGGS partnerships also give us a good idea of values too. Over the years, the organization has worked with big brands such as Dove, UPS, Symantec, NVidia, and Nutrition International. Check out their website to learn more about these partnerships work and how they work together to imbue these values onto girls globally.
In SWAGGYK, we talk about Lamp Chop’s creator, Shari Lewis, a woman of showbiz who created a star.
Shari's parents encouraged her and her sister to perform. Born January 17, 1933 as Phyllis Namoi Hurwitz, Shari was a natural. By the age of 13 she was performing specialized magic tricks taught to her by her father, who was the New York City “Official Magician”. She also learnt acrobatics, juggling, skating, baton twirling, piano, and violin. Shari excelled at ballet, dancing with the School of American Ballet, the school associated with the New York City Ballet.
Lewis attend Barnard College, but left after a year to go into show business. She made her first TV appearance in 1952 where she won first place in a CBS Series called Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (similar to American Idol), and hosted her first show the next year hosting a show called Fact N’Fun. In 1953, Shari moved to WPIX, a CW-affiliate in the NY area, to host a variety show called Kartoon Klub. The show changed its name to Shari & Her Friends in September 1956, then to Shariland in October the same year.
When Shariland ended, she went on to Hi Mom, where the world was first introduced to Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy. Shari ended up back at NBC in October 1960 performing on The Shari Lewis Show which ran for 3 years. This was where Lamp Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy were all regularly featured. Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, she appeared in a number of British shows.
In 1992, Shari returned to the American airwaves with Lamp Chop’s Play-Along on PBS, airing until September 1995. After Lamp Chop, Charlie Horse got his own show, The Charlie Horse Music Pizza. This show came at a time where schools were cutting music programs, and Lewis wanted to make sure that kids were still being introduced to music. Sadly, the last episode aired on January 17, 1999, just 6 months after she died from complications due to uterine cancer, on what would have been her 66th birthday.
Learn more about Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop.
And finally we talk about The Song that Never Ends in our Campfire, a song that will be in your head all week!
Known originally as "The Song That Doesn't End", it is a single-verse-long song that naturally flows in a cyclical fashion, repeating the same verse over and over again.
The Play-Along Wiki says the song was written by Broadway composer Norman Martin, but it doesn’t have a citation so it is difficult to determine the validity of this credit. Although there is no documented writer, most people tend to agree that they first heard it on Lamb Chop’s Play-Along. It was used as the closing theme at the end of each episode, at which point the puppets sang the verses of the song while hostess Shari Lewis would try in vain to stop them. The song also appears in the album Lamb Chop’s Sing-Along, Play-Along.
If you're a Canadian who grew up in the 2000s, you may also recognize it from a series of Motrin pain killer ads that featured kids singing the song in the back of a car, during a traffic jam, while eating chocolate-covered coffee beans.
You can listen to Episode 28 now, and catch up on previous episodes, either right here on our website or on your favourite podcast app (Spotify, Apple, Google, Anchor, etc.).
We would love to know what your opening and closings you use in your units. Leave a comment below, or send us a message on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you'd like to contribute to an episode of Guides' Own, send us your ideas for topics, program, campfire songs, etc. send a message to guidesown@gmail.com.
Good luck getting that song out of your head!
Marissa & Taryn