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The Family Room by Michelle Martin

March 16, 2008

Cookie time

Hat? Check.

Gloves? Check.

Long underwear, pants, snowpants? Check.

No, Caroline and I were not getting ready to go sledding or ice skating or skiing.

It’s Girl Scout cookie season, and we were headed out the door to man (or should it be “Girl”?) a table outside a Chicago church, in hopes of persuading the congregation leaving 4 p.m. Mass to indulge a bit, Lent or not.

Of course, normal mid-March temperatures are in the 40s, when it might be a bit chilly, but not downright miserable. But no one told the weatherman this year, and we found ourselves outdoors with a wind chill maybe in the teens.

But for Caroline and the other Girl Scouts — who honestly don’t seem to feel the cold the same way we parents do — the bigger challenge seems to be stepping forward and asking people to buy cookies.

“It’s embarrassing!” Caroline said, when I suggested she stop a couple of people leaving Mass before the main crowd came out. But in the interests of selling, she did start to ask, and found success. There were people who declined, of course, but even most of them were polite and encouraging, saying they already had too many cookies at home.

One woman told her that the only reason she stopped was because Caroline asked her to. Others turned from their paths and bought cookies when she approached them.

Jesus, after all, said “Ask and you shall receive.” He wasn’t talking about selling cookies, of course, but he was saying that you need to say what you want — even to God, who already knows. You need to participate in the conversation.

That works with people, too. If you don’t ask, often, people won’t give you what you want, even if they already know. They’ll walk by a table of Girl Scout cookies with a sign saying “$4 a box” more easily than a Girl Scout saying, “Would you like to buy some cookies?”

The cookie sale is important for Caroline’s troop, of course. It’s the main fundraiser that pays for a summer camping trip and other outings. It also helps the Girl Scouts of Chicago with its operating costs, including subsidizing opportunities for girls who could not otherwise afford to participate.

But the cookie sale also is important for individual girls, giving them an opportunity to serve the larger group, and to move beyond their usual boundaries. How often do we parents tell kids to talk to strangers? (Safely and under supervision, of course.)

It also provides a crash course in handling money, record keeping, working toward a goal and being polite and friendly. Girls are routinely instructed to thank even the people who decline for their time.

It also provides a lesson about human behavior. Most people return politeness with politeness, a smile with a smile. Those who walk by and refuse to acknowledge a 10-year-old’s greeting stand out.

There weren’t many of them coming out of the church; generally, more people will hurry past outside grocery stores and other places Girl Scouts sell cookies.

For them, the girls learn that sometimes you need a little bit of a thick skin.

Three layers of winter clothing help, too.

Martin is assistant editor of the Catholic New World. Contact her at [email protected].