Editor's Message - “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands”
“The future of Rotary is in Your Hands” was the Rotary theme during my year as District Governor. I liked the theme. First the word future is a word worthy of reflection. John Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” I would regret missing the enormous future potential for our Rotary e-club by only reflecting on our brief history. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin said, “The future belongs to those who give the next generation reason to hope.” I know of no other organization that can offer the world more hope. When things were not going as well as we would have liked during a National Polio Immunization Day in India, I was able to sit down with the local Muslim spiritual leader with two other Rotarians and to cross all religious and political barriers to form a working relationship that led to huge successes and changes the following day. Rotary can do this in a way few other organizations can do.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.” I am fond of saying you “eat the elephant one bite at a time,” but old Abe’s phrasing is much more eloquent. If each day we can take a small bite of all those tasks we have been putting off that will make Rotary better and more relevant, then it will be a day well lived in our “Service above Self” lifestyles. Do a small thing every day. Call a member who has been ill. Invite a person to visit your club. Share your enthusiasm.
Now is the time to focus on how will we make our Rotary e-club relevant in the world. Each and every Rotarian is important to our success as servants. Remember the words of Elaine Maxwell who said, “My will shall shape the future. Whether I fail or succeed shall be no man’s doing but my own. I am the force; I can clear any obstacle before me or I can be lost to my destiny.” in the maze. My choice; my responsibility; win or lose, only I hold the key.
The second part of the theme made me reflect on hands. I have always liked the theme of hands in songs. Some songs speak of the aging hands of a benevolent mother, some of the rough hands of a workingman. Guy Clark told us to, “always try to keep you heart connected to your wrist, cause everybody knows that you can't shake hands with a fist.” But I thought the perfect anthem for this theme was the Jack Johnson’s song “My own two hands.” This first time I heard the song it grabbed me in a way few songs do. Take the time to listen to his voice as it shares the values of Rotary to change the world to make it a better and kinder place. He sings we can make peace and clean up the earth. He sings we can hold and reach out to others and help the human race. And he sings that we can make the world a brighter and safer place, but we have to use our own two hands. When I heard his words I thought he must have been reading about all the great things Rotarians do everyday to make this world a better place.
Let’s celebrate Rotary daily. Let’s share our own two hands to make the world a better place. Vernon Cooper said, “These days people seek knowledge, not wisdom. Knowledge is of the past, wisdom is of the future.” Let us be wise as we reflect and take action to insure that the future of Rotary in our e-club is relevant.
W. E. B. Du Bois said, “Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest.”
I look forward to serving President Sofka and each of you thus Rotary year and years to come.
Yours in Rotary service - Ed Charlesworth, Charter President 2013-14; PDG 09-10