Greetings my fellow Rotarians,
A while back I invited all of you to submit a Rotary story, if you have one to share (and I know that you all do!) and stated that I would share it in the bulletin the first week of the month. This week I am submitting a short little ditty from Carrie. It centers around an occurrence from our first wheelchair trip to Panama and I thought the timing was perfect, given our wonderful presentation at last week’s meeting.
We were seated three rows ahead of our fellow Rotarians on the flight from Boston, Massachusetts, USA to Panama City, Panama, but I could still pick out Annette Higgins’ voice from the hub-bub of passengers. “If you need help with those customs forms, Susy can help you,” she told a fellow passenger, a woman she had only met three seconds ago. “Can’t you, Susy?” “Absolutely!” Susy Del Cid’s fluid voice was instantly recognizable as well. Susy and Annette were two of six Rotarians (plus one spouse) from our club jetting to Panama to help fit people into wheelchairs that the club raised money to purchase. “Don’t worry,” Annette told another passenger worrying over a form, “we’ll help you too if you need it.”
Help is meant to be one of the backbones of the Rotary Club. It’s often called service, which sounds a lot fancier. Sometimes that service might be raising money for wheelchairs. Sometimes it might be assisting others filling out customs and immigration forms. But it is always supposed to be the nature of Rotary, of being a Rotarian. It is why we are here. It is why Susy spearheaded this wheelchair project for our club. It’s why our club has done two more projects since then. It’s why our current, International Chair, Bonnie Tai, is exploring more.
If you know me at all, you know that I am a worry type of person. I get a little freaked out about things like the upcoming fellowship event at the Jesup Memorial Library this Wednesday. What if nobody shows up? What if too many people show up? I worry about whether I do a good job representing Rotary, whether I do anything right, actually. I worry that our club doesn’t do enough, does too much, that the members aren’t engaged, etc. But right before we went to Panama another Rotarian said, “This is a big
adventure.” It was. All of Rotary and all of life is meant to be.
You have to embrace the adventure sometime and just give in, even if you are a worrying type of Rotarian. Life is meant to be spent adventuring, not spent hiding; sometimes it feels like the world is so full of fear that everyone forgets what it’s like to simply put one foot in front of the other and step outside their communities, their homes, their safe routines and risk being adventurous, risk experiencing the joy that happens when you take one little week out of your life to hang out, distribute wheelchairs and try to service others.
It’s what Rotary is about. It’s the kind of Rotarian and person that I want to be and I’m totally psyched to be on this adventure with all of you.
I just want to say that I wholeheartedly agree with Carrie’s last line and I very much hope that I see you all this Wednesday night at the Jesup Library! Don’t forget to bring a friend!
Shaun
