Lady Olave Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide, sendte denne hilsenen til verdens jente- og guttespeidere i september 1976 – hennes siste tenkedagshilsen. Den ble skrevet på engelsk og er gjengitt i original form nedenfor.

Well, here we are approaching Thinking Day again, and I wonder how many of you Guides will remember what that date means, and does. MOST of you will know that it was the Founder’s Birthday, as well as being mine, and it was decided that Guides everywhere should be invited to THINK hard, and thankfully, about what our movement is and does, and do something to help it to fulfill its mission in the world.

Our kind thoughts take wings, and fly off from country to country, far and wide across the seven seas and, as our numbers increase each year, so the strength of our feelings of friendship are expanding, and all thoughts of goodwill are of unstinted value in this disturbed world in which we live today.

Thinking leads to action, and I feel sure that you Guides will be taking some form of celebration for Thinking Day itself, in small numbers or in big occasions, and what you give in the way of money will help our sisterhood to grow and expand for the greater good of numbers of girls like you.

I start when I first wake up on 22 February by going through the names of countries that I have visited and where I know that the Guides will be thinking of me!

I begin by calling in on the small group of Guides in Austria, fairly near at hand, and then I fly to Australia, with its big number of towns, where Guides will be gathering together for some “Thinking Day” ceremony on this special day.

Then I hop over to little Belgium, so near at hand, and then away across the sea to Brazil.

And after that comes the vast stretch of Canada with Guides in the big cities, as well as in the isolated Arctic regions.

Little Denmark comes next, hand in hand with the small island of Dominica, and next I “call in” on the Guides of Egypt and Eire and Ethiopia, with Finland, France and far-off Fiji coming next.

Germany and Greece come next into my mind, followed by Holland and far-off Hong Kong, whilst I spend quite a long time calling in, in mind, on Iceland, Italy and Israel, and seeing in my mind’s eye numbers of Guides and Bulbuls the Brownies of all shapes and sizes all over that vast sub-continent of India.

And so it goes on as I think lovingly of all the Guides and Girl Scouts in all the other countries too, who, in their turn, as the hours go by, will be holding meetings, having birthday parties, and also many groups who will be on their knees, thanking God for the movement, and what it means to them in fun and friendships, and great “good turns” to be done for people who are less fortunate than we are ourselves.

So Guides and Girl Scouts, I wish you every happiness on this coming “Thinking Day”, with all of us drawn together through belonging to this great fellowship and tied by the Law and the Promise that we have all made, and all the efforts and work that you do for the World Association is of great and lasting value.

I offer my admiration for all your fine achievements, and my best wishes for a HAPPY THINKING DAY are with you all.

Lady Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide, september 1976

Bakgrunn

Olave Baden-Powell (1889–1977) var gift med grunnleggeren av speiderbevegelsen, Robert Baden-Powell, og ble selv en sentral skikkelse i den internasjonale jentespeiderbevegelsen. Hun ble utnevnt til World Chief Guide i 1930 og viet store deler av livet til å reise verden rundt og møte guider og speidere. Tenkedagen (22. februar) er felles bursdag for både Robert og Olave Baden-Powell og markeres hvert år av speidere og guider over hele verden.

Hvorfor

Teksten er et godt utgangspunkt for å få speiderne til å reflektere over speidingens internasjonale aspekt – at vi er en del av en verdensomspennende bevegelse med millioner av medlemmer. Olaves varme og personlige tone gjør teksten lett tilgjengelig og egnet til høytlesning eller samtale.