Sagas

Sagas. Sounds dramatic, right? Like the girl you know who always has some saga with a guy going on in her life? Or the guy in the next cubicle who turns every work "hiccup" into a full-feature length saga. Well, here's the deal, this week, I'm taking my turn at writing a saga. As my first attempt at writing a saga, I'd urge you to keep your laughing and pointing to a minimum thankyouverymuch.

I've chosen to write my fictional saga about Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts. As a Gold Award recipient, I owe a lot to Low (yep, I could have run a campaign for her if ever she had one #poetanddidntknowit) and the program she began for girls across our country.

In many sagas, there is/does:

• a single plot, single rising tension/conflict, resolution, and denouement (see former 9th grade English students... the word "denouement" WILL come up in the real world!)
• a small cast, with only one or two people in dialogue at a time
• no thick background
• describe "who we are"

Here we go...Scene 1, take 1 *cool movie scene-teller thingy snap sound*

Scene: Juliette Gordon Low, who is 51 years old, has been searching her whole life to find something meaningful to do. It is 1911 and she is meeting Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouts, for the first time. For the purposes of this story, we'll assume Sir Robert is not very open to Juliet's ideas.  

"Well, hello, Robert, it is so nice to finally meet you. I am quite excited for this meeting," said Juliette, "as I think that what you're doing for the boys in the Boy Scouts could also be beneficial for the girls in our country. The girls deserve a chance to learn new skills, work on social endeavors, and further their opportunities." Sir Robert looks at her, interested, but amused. "Juliette, it is nice to meet you, I agree. But I don't think that the girls can do what the boys are doing. The boys are learning skills like camping, hiking, and sports. That's no place for a girl to be." 

Juliette thought long and hard about how she was going to win over Sir Robert so that he would help her to organize her newest idea. "Why reinvent the wheel?" she thought to herself.  "If Robert will help me, then I could be helping girls to learn and grow in no time." 

Just then, Juliette thought of an idea. "If I could just get a group of girls here to show Robert what a great idea this girls' group would be, maybe he'd be more willing to help me," she thought. So Juliette invited a group of 6 elementary-aged girls to a meeting at the school the next day. During the meeting, Juliette taught the girls how to make different types of knots. She explained that the knots could be used for lots of things -- from camping excursions to sewing projects to helping tie up horses. Sir Robert was skeptical of this meeting at first, but he began to lighten up as he saw how much fun the girls were having and how much they were learning. "For goodness' sake," he thought, "these are skills I taught the boys in Boy Scouts.  Now the girls are learning the same thing... and they're even good at what they're learning!" 

Next, Juliette took the girls outside and taught them the basics of starting a fire in a campfire ring. After several attempts, the girls along with their leader started a fire. "Well, Juliette, you've done it this time. The things you're teaching these girls are similar to what we teach the boys at Boy Scouts. I have to hand it to you, your persistence has paid off. You wanted this program to begin and grow, and even in the face of doubt you've made believers of your program... including me!" 

In the end, Sir Robert did help Juliette begin and organize her program, which is now the Girls Scouts. Because of her persistence, the Girl Scouts program has also shown persistence in its growth and leadership. We are a resilient group because of the resiliency Juliette Gordon Low showed in her establishment of the group. 

And...end scene. Herein ends (likely) the corniest saga you've ever read.

But.... I hope you get the point.  Throughout the Bible, we see sagas that tell ancestral stories, like that of Abraham in Genesis 12-25 or of Jacob's cycle from Genesis 25:19 - 35:29. In these stories, we see the cycles of families and people develop and evolve, while showing smaller, independent stories as well. In the story that was wonderfully crafted by yours truly, we see Juliette overcoming odds of adversity before her to do what she felt called and moved to do. The conflict came from an outside source (Sir Robert) and through her hard work, the conflict was resolved. In the story from Genesis 25:19 - 35:29, we watch the cycle of Jacob being born, growing up, "taking" the birthrights from his brother, receiving his father's blessing, being sent away, wrestling with Lord, causing him to become named "Israel," and receiving forgiveness from his brother. That's a saga if I ever heard one! 

What kind of ancestral cycles do you recognize and what do they say about the groups you belong to? 

T-OOTLE-oo!

Melissa