President's Speech

As an employee of Lamar State College-Port Arthur for 30 years, you can quickly calculate how many graduation exercises and commencement addresses I have experienced.  This of course does not include additional ceremonies that I have attended as a graduate myself or as a family member of a graduate.  Surely, many of those speakers told their audience to "follow their dreams", which seems to be one of the most popular commencement themes.  I really don't remember.  And, as unlikely as it is that I'll say anything memorable this evening, it's every bit as unlikely that you'll remember any of it.  So that takes the pressure off all of us, doesn't it?

There is one commencement address that I do remember.  I don't remember the date or the speaker's name.   However, I do remember that the entire address could be summed up in just two words:  BE USEFUL.  This advice has served me well.  And it will serve you well-on the job, in a civic organization, in your family-anywhere.  If you are useful, you will always be in demand.   

Useful people have something in common:  They always put others first as they fill a need.  Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is not in your job description.

For most people, life is a draw. They leave the world pretty much as they found it. They live, they work, and then they die. And the world is no better-or no worse-for their having been here. They are nice people, perhaps. It's just that they made no lasting impression-no lasting contribution. They survived-but no more. How refreshing when somebody comes along who is not satisfied with just getting by.

Candy Lightner was a housewife when her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk hit-and-run driver.  When Candy learned that the man had been out of jail on bail for only two days for another hit-and-run drunk driving crash, and that he had three previous drunk driving arrests and two convictions, she became outraged.

The outrage continued. The driver was convicted but sentenced to only two years in prison, which the judge then reduced to a halfway house.

There was nothing in Candy's past to suggest she would become a national figure, but she did. She founded MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), and today there are MADD chapters in all 50 states.

More important, in the 15 years after MADD was founded, alcohol-related traffic deaths in the United States dropped from 26,000 a year to 17,000-and police in every state openly credited MADD's legislative and educational programs. By demanding stricter sentencing, drunk drivers are increasingly being kept off the streets.

And it all began with one woman, a self-described housewife, who saw a need and filled it.

She was useful.

But you are Rotarians.  I don't need to tell you to be useful.  I'm preaching to the choir.  We are members of a volunteer organization with 33,000 clubs in over 200 countries.  We initiate humanitarian projects that address today's challenges affecting the world, such as hunger, poverty, and illiteracy.  We 1.2 million men and women donate our expertise, time, and funds to support local and international projects that help people in need and promote understanding among cultures.  As I said, useful people have one thing in common: they always put others first.  And, what is our Rotary motto?  Service Above Self. 

Making the world a better place requires a commitment-a commitment to reach out to people who need your help and support; a willingness to share your time and your resources with others.  We know that the world is a better place because Rotary is here.  Places like

·       A hospital in a poverty-stricken community in Mexico that received medical equipment and supplies to enable it to provide general health care for more than 60,000 people in the area.  

·        2,000 children in Asia who received cleft lip or palate surgeries through the efforts Australian, Dutch, and Indonesian Rotarians.  

·       All around the world in countries where thousands of children will never suffering the crippling disease of polio because of Rotarians.

Rotarians are useful.  The world is a better place because Rotarians have been here. 

Will the world be a better place because you have been here?

You may remember that one of Stephen Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Successful People is, "Begin with the end in mind." Visualize yourself, Covey says, at your own funeral and listen in your imagination to what people say about you.

It matters little what your net worth was. It matters little how many times your name was in the headlines.  It doesn't matter how many honors, awards, and degrees you have earned.  These things will not last.  Will the world be a better place because you have lived?

As we reflect on our lives, I like the way the poet Linda Ellis put it:

I read of a reverend that stood to speak at the funeral of his friend.

He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning.to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the following date with tears

But he said what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth

And now only those who loved her know what that dash is worth.

For it matters not, how much we own--the cars, the house, the cash

What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

If we could just slow down enough to consider what's true and real

And always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger and show appreciation more

And love the people in our lives like we've never loved before.

So when your eulogy is being read with your life's actions to rehash.

Would you be pleased with the things they say about how you spent your dash?

As the North Port Arthur Rotary Club begins another new year, let us work to be useful and let us be mindful of how we are spending our dash.