More about Camp Fire Girl Laws

6. "Hold on to Health-Good health habits in eating, sleeping, cleanliness, exercise and fresh air will mean bright cheeks, sparkling eyes and a happy smile.  Good health is a precious gift, so we do all we can to hold on to it."
I am a vegetarian.  Actually, I have been vegan for two years.  If I had been given a choice I would have been vegetarian as a child but I was forced to eat meat.  Good health meant living on meat, potatoes, a spoonful of over-cooked green beans, bread and a glass of milk.  I might eat bread now and then but most of that stuff is not part of my diet now.  Sleeping was not a problem as a child.  I had more self-discipline then than I do now.  Even though no one told me to go to bed, or rarely did, I went to bed at 10p.m.  Now sometimes I fall asleep in my chair.  I don't get the exercise I did as a child but I can't walk to work the same way I walked to school and there is no mandatory P.E. class at my place of employment.  Cleanliness---now there is an issue I am embarrassed to address but here goes:  When I was very little we had a tiny bathroom with just a toilet and shower.  There was no sink in the bathroom but the kitchen sink was only  three steps away. I failed to mention that at the time there were five of us kids.  A total of seven people living in a two bedroom house with one tiny bathroom. I don't remember ever using the shower but I suppose I must have.  Otherwise how did I bathe?  I had very long hair and I know that my mom made me lay on the kitchen counter with my head over the sink.  That's how she washed my hair.  It seems it would have been easier to wash it in the shower because I would scream and kick while laying there on the counter.  We moved from there when I was seven to a four bedroom house with a proper bathroom and a huge claw foot tub.
I loved bathing in that tub but that was only a weekly occurrence.  My mother would get angry if I tried to bathe more often.  Why?  I can't say unless it was that we were still seven people with one bathroom and when the bathroom was occupied for any length of time it could cause discomfort for others.  It would have been hard for me to fulfill the Camp Fire obligations under those circumstances.  I did wash my face and hands every morning and brushed my teeth after meals.  I guess I did what I could with the resources available but I cringe now  think of how dirty I must have been.  I am hyper sensitive now, terrified that I give off odors and I am often afraid to be around people because of it.  I don't know if I ever had the bright cheeks, sparkling eyes and happy smile mentioned here.  Good health is a gift?  I have been lucky.  I haven't ttaken good care of myself other than avoiding drugs and meat.  Maybe striving to earn my Camp Fire Awards will help me make commitments to my health.
7. "Glorify Work-this means to be proud of your work and of doing it well.  Sing as you help at home, at school and at Camp Fire meetings and it will be fun to work!  Be glad that you have work you can do.  You have a real share in helping others and by always trying to do your best you "glorify work."
I never understood what "glorify work" mean.  As an adult I have often felt that my position at the University is that of a glorified secretary so if that's what it means then MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  I know that's not what it means.  When I was a kid I used to sing while I washed dishes.  "Go down Moses, way down to Egypt land.  Tell old Pharoah let my people GOOOOOO!"  That made my mom angry and made me laugh.  I know I wasn't a slave, far from it, but I milked it for all the sympathy I could get(none). It still makes me laugh. When not playing for sympathy I would sing "White coral bells" starting as low as possible then singing again and again with my voice higher and higher each time.  The last line of the song is "When the fairies sing" and I thought an ultra-high squeaky voice was how fairies sounded.  This also irritated my mother and makes me laugh out loud to think about.