Rotagram for Wednesday, February 24, 2021

President Ken concluded social time and began our meeting, “Welcome to the Rotary Club of Fullerton!”

Ken’s Opening Commentary:

My parents had the understanding that children were selfish little monsters who needed to be civilized. (In my case, this may have been accurate.) But in grad school I saw a video that gave lie to this. It was taken through a one-way mirror of a children’s day care facility. There was a child, maybe 1 yr old, crying inconsolably. One little boy went over and gave the crying child the toy he had been playing with, as if to say, “This toy makes me happy; maybe it will work for you too.” It didn’t help. Then another child started tugging on care-givers slacks, urging her to go over and take care of the crying toddler. What this video shows is that compassion is hard wired in all of us.

In the same vein, I read a story a couple of years ago about a young child who was trick-or-treating. When one giver showed him an empty bowl and said, “Sorry, I’m all out of candy,” the little boy reached into his own bag and pulled out a candy for the adult. That kind of bigheartedness should help all of us feel confident that the future is in good hands.

If we look, we can see kindness all around us. A San Diego family in need was surprised with new kitchen and laundry appliances from the local Boys and Girls Clubs. A high school in Colorado made a yearbook in braille for a visually impaired classmate.

Shortly after a young married couple moved into their new home in Massachusetts, they had a baby who was born deaf. When their new neighbors found out, they were sorry that they wouldn’t be able to communicate with the little girl as she grew up. So they hired someone to teach them American Sign Language, and before long, 40 neighbors were attending the class. The girl is now three years old. Not surprisingly, the first word she signed to them was “friend.”

All over the world people are combining compassion with creativity to build bonds. We in Rotary are part of this, constantly looking for ways to help those in need. If we’re ever tempted to think society is pulling apart, that more and more people are sowing discord, perhaps we can look away from the noise for a moment. What we’re likely to see is a quiet groundswell of love and friendship happening all around us. It is what we see every week when we come together for our meetings. Each of us, in our own ways, adds our own offerings of peace and compassion wherever we are, however we can. This is Service Above Self.

Jim Ripley led us in the Pledge.

Judy Atwell told a very nice story rather than leading the group in a prayer.

Guests- Roteract members: Michael Habhab and Lydia Garcia, Barbara Clinebell, our guest speaker’s wife, and Ernie Deflin

Club news:

• Our only fund raiser this year, Fullerton’s Schools Got Talent, is set up for Friday, April 23. It will be a virtual event, so it will be safe for all. In this year of Covid, we are firing a shot into the unknown – we have never had a virtual fundraiser, so we don’t know if it will be successful or how much money we will raise. I do know that Rotarians can sponsor this event. Our donations can make or break it, so I am counting on you to help this year in a big way. More on this next week…

• Rick Crane is gearing up for the 30th Annual Jim Thompson Track and Field City Championship, scheduled for Saturday, March 27th at Fullerton Union High School. There are plenty of opportunities to volunteer and help. Give Rick Crane a call to sign up.

• Many of you have noticed that 3rd Qtr billings did not go out in January like usual. Because of our bookkeeper’s health problems, we are going to combine 3rd & 4th Qtr billings and send them out in April.

Service Above Self Special Recognition:

Raco, who has worked long and hard recruiting kids to go to eRYLA. In addition, I am naming Vimal Seth as Rotarian of the Month, for his long years of service to the club, in keeping our books and handling our billing. Fancy gold metal, Raco!

Finemaster – Usually people go to lawyers in an attempt to protect themselves or to save themselves some money. Sadly, the Finemaster today, a prominent and distinguished member of the Bar, will ruthlessly separate you from your money. I give you our Finemaster, the wickedly funny Kim Barlow!

• Brett A is celebrating a birthday on March 3rd- $6
• Matt H is celebrating his 3rd wedding anniversary on the 3rd - $9
• Cathy is paying for Joe L’s fine for helping get eligible Rotarians vaccinated- $5
• Susan muted Ken a bunch before the meeting- $6
• Ken was so gracious about being muted - $3
• Dawn looks good in orange- $3
• Mr. Phelps needs a flippin’ hair cut! - $10
• Kim is happy to see Joyce and is fining her for not being at meetings- $5
• Zoot is being fined for kissing Kim’s “butt” at beginning of meeting -$5

For our program today, Dan Ouweleen introduced Donald Clinebell who will be speaking to us today about Servant Leadership.

Donald has been a Rotarian for 29 years and spoke to us today about service driven leadership and the power of service! Embrace the power of service and learn to apply that power through service driven leadership. Service driven work increases productivity and engagement.

Power of service: the self-help gurus were wrong! Self-help isn’t about only helping yourself. The true way of bringing happiness, peace, fulfillment to our lives is by serving others. Self-love opens us up to love others. Service should be the center of our lives not a part of our lives.

“The Classroom of Quiet”- Ask yourself what is most important in life?

Stories of service= stories of meaning and love

Deliberately step outside of yourself and see what happens- be counterintuitive to find purpose and meaning. Choose to serve, choose to change your organization or business! Check out Donald’s books and other resources for assistance and to learn more about how you can make this life and organizational change.

President Ken thanked Donald for his time and presentation and gifted him nuts and a tote bag.

President Ken concluded our meeting with three inspirational quotes:

“You are ready and able to do beautiful things in this world. Somebody out there can use your help today. Are you going to choose love over fear? The purest joy in life comes from serving others. Live intentionally!”
― Farshad Asl

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.
--- Theodore Roosevelt

“Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
--- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Go out and be good people and great Rotarians!”

Meeting adjourned