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YEARS OF SERVICE
FAMILY OF ROTARY Our membership cares deeply about the needs and concerns of our members. We don’t want to miss an opportunity to reach out in friendship when such concerns arise. The chairperson of this committee is Lynne Lindsey and all news should be directed to her at lynnehlindsay@outlook.com
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President's Message
“You’re going to find out about it anyway, so here’s a little preemptive truth-telling… There is no happy ending. The ride is sometimes smooth, sometimes hard and ugly. That’s life”— Anthony Bourdain, world traveler and global storyteller. As we step into 2026, that honest reflection feels especially fitting. Most of us have written down resolutions—health goals, professional ambitions, promises to be better spouses, parents, friends, and Rotarians. But beneath the “what” of those resolutions lies a deeper and far more powerful question: What purpose and meaning are we attaching to the commitments we make to ourselves? Our speaker last week challenged us to consider, in less than a minute, what we truly want out of life and what would make us happy in life. Is the answer simply checkboxes on a list, or are they signposts pointing us toward a life of greater fulfillment and service? Happiness, after all, is not a future destination we eventually arrive at—it is a practice we engage in every single day. The 1960’s philosopher Alan Watts offered a powerful way to think about this. He once said that: “Most people live life like it’s some type of tightrope, one wrong move, and poof down you go. So, they grip; they grasp; they try to control it all. The more you try to clutch the river, the faster it slips through your fingers. Now, of course I’m not saying don’t try. Do your best. Absolutely! And once you’ve done that, let go. Let life dance with you a little because the whole thing isn’t a war. It’s a play. You were meant to enjoy it. People ask me all the time, what’s the meaning of life. And I say, well, what’s the meaning of a piece of music? You don’t play it to get to the end. If that were the point, composers would just write one loud crash at the end and be done with it. You play music to enjoy the notes. So it is with life. It is with life!” That idea cuts straight to the heart of how we live—and how we serve. We live in a culture of waiting. People spend all day waiting for the evening and work to be over. They spend the entire week waiting for the weekend. Then they wait all year for summer, and a lifetime for happiness, accomplishment, or meaning. But happiness is not waiting in the next vacation or just beyond the next milestone. It is not somewhere ahead of you. It is now. The habit of postponing joy is the habit of missing life. Stop waiting for the perfect moment—there is no such thing. There is only this moment, and what you choose to do with it. You don’t wait for happiness. You practice it. The great writers and storytellers have echoed this truth for centuries. Ralph Waldo Emerson reminded us that “life is a journey, not a destination.” The ancient parable of the Chinese farmer—who meets every triumph and tragedy with a quiet “maybe”—teaches us that meaning is rarely found in a single outcome, but in how we walk through each chapter with humility and purpose. Even Robert Louis Stevenson captured it beautifully: “To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive.” Rotary understands this better than most. “Service Above Self” is not a slogan reserved for the end of a project or the moment a goal is reached—it is a way of moving through the world. The meetings, the planning, the setbacks, the small victories, and the quiet acts of kindness along the way—that is the journey. And in that journey, we practice happiness by practicing service. As we move through this new year, may we not rush to the “final note” of the song, but take the time to enjoy each measure—to be present, to serve, and to let life, and Rotary, dance with us a little along the way. Sic Vos Non Vobis, Trummie Lee Patrick III President, Roswell Rotary Club New Member Spotlight |
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