MAKE DREAMS REAL

THE METAMORPHOSIS
By
Ernie D. Delfin
Member, Newport Irvine Rotary Club

MAKE DREAMS REAL

“ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal….”
Martin Luther King Jr.


All great things started with a dream. And many of us, including Rotarians still dream BIG. As the Rotary world prepares for the 2008 RI Convention in Los Angeles, another set of officers, from RIPE D.K. Lee from Korea and his 530 incoming District Governors and all the Rotary Clubs’ leadership team, are all busy preparing to MAKE DREAMS REAL (the theme chosen by RI President Lee for next year.) I love next year’s theme as it has reinvigorated my own capacity to dream. Growing up in the 1960’s when the ‘Camelot’ era President John Fitzgerald Kennedy announced to the world of his dream to put a man in the moon, I can still feel that indescribable excitement when the entire world witnessed the fulfillment of JFK’s dream when Neil Armstrong on that historic July 20, 1969 uttered: “That’s one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind!”

As our district and many Rotary Districts in the world assemble for their District Conferences and District Assemblies, it behooves all of us Rotarians, worthy to be called the “Salt of Rotary” to reflect and re-commit ourselves to the ideals and objectives of Rotary, the main attraction why we became Rotarians in the first place. As Rotary International is an all volunteer army of community oriented individuals where we render Service Above Self in our local and global community, let us MAKE OUR OWN DREAMS REAL. To my district governor and to my club president, I re-commit to you that I will do my best to make our dreams real!

As a Rotarian for almost a decade now, I have witnessed that many clubs are “dying” not only because of aging membership but also due to the declining commitment or enthusiasm of many members probably thinking that they are only “one member” who cannot do a lot, oblivious that indeed they are ONE important KEY to make their Club’s dreams, if any, a reality. I often wondered why some members are exceptionally successful in their own professions or businesses but when they are in their respective clubs they metamorphose and become so ordinary and act as a “mere member” that their actions are so silently insignificant to be noticed by others. Many have lost that child-like enthusiasm to dream and to act enthusiastically to reach their dreams. I still believe that the capacity to dream never ceases when a Rotarian reaches 50, because like our incoming RI President D. K. Lee, I still do and I am past that mid-century mark myself.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams!” Let us remember that as our District 5320 attends our annual District Assembly on Saturday, April 5th . To end this column, let me share this:

STORY OF MY OLD TYPXWRITXR

Xvxn though my typxwritxr is an old modxl, it works quitx wxll xxcxpt for onx of the kxys. I wishxd many timxs that it works pxrfxctly. It is trux that thxrx arx forty-six kxys that function wxll xnough but just onx kxy not working makxs thx diffxrxncx.

Somxtimxs it sxxms to mx that our own organization is not unlikx my typxwritxr that not all of the mxmbxrs arx working adxquatxly and xffxctivxly.

You may say to yoursxlf, “Wxll I am only onx pxrson. I won’t makx or brxak any organization.”

But it doxs rxally makx a grxat diffxrxncx bxcausx any succxssful organization to bx xffxctivx rxquirxs the activx participation of xvxry mxmbxr. So thx nxxt timx you think that you arx only onx pxrson and that your xfforts arx not nxxdxd, plxasx rxmxmbr my old typxwritxr and start txlling yoursxlf:

“I AM A KXY PXRSON IN OUR ORGANIZATION AND I AM ALSO NXXDXD VXRY MUCH.”

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Email writer: ernie.delfin@yahoo.com or drbannatiran@yahoo.com