Rotary Moment

Good afternoon,

Today I experienced an amazing Rotary moment and I thought that it would be good to share it with a Rotary member. Bear with me as I am not a talented writer.

I am living in Spruce Grove, just west of Edmonton, for the summer and today the city experienced a massive thunderstorm. I was at work doing some training for a new job and as the storm was ending I went to the front of the building to see the amount of rain and if there was any damage. When I looked outside I saw what appeared to be an older gentleman up past his ankles in water with his walker. He looked to be struggling so I ran out of the building to go give him a hand if needed. It just happened to turn out that this gentleman, named Wayne, was a polio survivor. I thought it was interesting to note that when he told me this he said, "You probably don't know what polio is but that is why I have my walker." I explained to him that I was part of Rotaract and that I did indeed know what polio was. Even knowing what polio is I have never met anyone in person who had polio so it did make me stop and take a minute to think about how polio is considered to be a thing of the past, yet here I was meeting a living polio survivor. 

After that short introduction took place we kept talking as I walked him to the building. He talked about the amazing things that Rotary is doing for polio and he told me that if he had only been healthy for another two years then there would have been a vaccine for him. He was born in 1951, and as he said, the cure wasn't available until 1953. That was another thoughtful point for myself. In my mind, 1953 seems to be a long time ago but in reality, that was just over 60 years ago and is really not long at all. He told me that even though he had polio he was grateful for every day that he was alive and he woke up each morning to thank god that he had gotten a good sleep. "Even if I only got two hours of sleep because of the pain," he said, "that was a gift." This gentleman really touched my heart with his kindness and his strength. Going through life living with the effects of polio and at 65 still being able to say that "every day is a good day" made me take a moment and really think. All of my petty troubles just seemed to disappear and I realized that no matter what I am alive and living a good fulfilling life.

I just wanted to share my experience with Wayne because, as I said before, he really touched my heart in the short 5 minutes that it took to get into the building. And I realize, now more than ever, how important the work that Rotary does to end polio really is. 

Wishing you well,

Meagan Bennett 
UofL Rotaract Club