President's Message

Posted by Dan Thomasson

A couple of days ago google's artificial intelligence bot told us the purpose of life. Here is a short extract from the bot-human conversation below:

Human: What is the purpose of life?

Machine: To serve the greater good.

Human: What is the purpose of living?

Machine: To live forever.

And so, I find that both answer's are accurate in my opinion. Through our work in Rotary we serve the greater good. We help those less fortunate by giving them water tanks for drinking water, we build toilets for sanitation, we vaccinate millions of children against the crippling affects of polio, we invest our time into local youth projects to prevent children from going off the rails and we feed the homeless in the coldness of winter. So how about living forever? I read somewhere that you can live forever through the ideas and contributions you leave behind. This year's Rotary International President's Theme is "Be A Gift To The World".

The new Rotary International President say's "The glory of Rotary is that it helps us find a way to sing that song. It guides us on a path to living richer, more meaningful lives, by encouraging us to focus our attention on the things that matter — and helping each of us find our own way to be a gift to the world."

I was humbled by everyone's congratulatory support last Thursday night at the Changeover Dinner. We have a strong, active Rotary club. We have the power to make a difference and we have been making a difference for 38 years. Over the years, Rotary International has put an incredible emphasis on increasing membership. However their priorities are wrong. Like Kevin Costner said in the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, he will come" and so if we build an active, professional and upbeat club, aspiring members will naturally be attracted to join. This year, my only intention is to do this, to build on the stable foundations that previous president's have laid before me and focus on serving the community and have fun while we do it.

Our time is now. It will never come again. Be a Gift to the World.