Singing, Part II

Today's blog will be mercifully short because I don't want to beat to death the subject of singing (see last week's entry below).

I thought I would be flooded with comments about my decision. But the seas have been surprisingly calm...so far. Maybe it will take a while for the storm to brew. Or maybe this just isn't as much of a hot issue as I thought.

However, when we do sing I think we should have gobs of fun doing it. That is why I have asked our incredibly talented Bill Cowdery and Siu-Ling to add fun and spice to the menu. When we raise the chorus, I want us to enjoy it.

I may get some danders up when I say the songs we have been singing are so (early!) Twentieth Century. I don't think we'll be rapping anytime soon. But, The Times, They Are A'Changin!

Singing

Before I begin on the very touchy subject of singing at our meetings, let me say I was very surprised to see that Rotary International singled out my blog in the "Blogs We Like" section of Rotary Interactive. I am flattered. Must not be much competition.

Well, now lets talk about singing.

If you were at Rotary this week, you know I announced that instead of singing at every meeting, we will sing as a group every other week. This is what the reaction was like.



Seriously, there were boos and cheers of about equal volume. And you know, that is pretty much the reaction I get whenever I bring the subject up, either polling members individually, or in smaller groups. It's about half and half.

So why bother at all? We could just let things be. We'd get by for another year. Nothing would change and I could leave the issue to the next president.

But, you may remember that we did a survey before I started my term in July. Every member was given the opportunity to participate and 112 of you did.

We asked broad questions like, "Do you have specific suggestions for improving our meetings?" or "What are the things you enjoy least about Rotary?" These questions did not beg any particular response. Yet, figuring conservatively, almost 20 percent volunteered they did not like singing.

I am not an expert on such things, but I believe this is statistically very significant. We did not even mention singing anywhere in the survey. So the compliant was unbiased and spontaneous. I believe it is fair to assume there are many others who just didn't think to mention singing but who don't really like it or are ambivalent.

When asked "What are the things you most enjoy about Rotary?", not one member said singing.

Clearly, we need to acknowledge and respect what our members want. Although the survey was completely blind (we do not know who responded and how) I have a feeling the stated objection to singing came mainly from our younger members.

It is extremely important to the future of our club that we attract and retain young members. So by singing every other week instead of all the time, I hope we have reached a fair compromise that honors our traditions while respecting a widespread desire for change.

Most important, none of this is written in stone. This is just something we are trying for now. We'll see how it goes.

If you're interested in my opinion, I kind of like singing. But, you definitely don't want hear me do it.

Active Service

As many of you know, our District Governor, Lana Rouff, visited our club this week. I heard comments from many of you about how inspiring her address was. In my experience, this is rather unusual. I'm not trying to disparage DG speeches in prior years. But, I can't remember seeing so many people so moved and excited after other DG visits.

I was also very happy to hear Lana speak about one of the central themes I established for this year--what I am calling "Active Service". In her prepared remarks--which I believe she wrote without any prior knowledge of our current priorities--she said how important it is to seek out service projects in our own community.

What she spoke of is exactly what Alan Cohen and his Community Service committee is already planning; we will be helping with local projects, both large and small, mostly in partnership with other local organizations.

That way we can link into the already-existing networks that abound here in Ithaca and not "reinvent the wheel". This is what we are doing with our Katrina outreach. But now it will be much closer to home, giving more of you the opportunity to serve.

And what a thrill it is! There is nothing like giving the gift of your very own talents to help others. You will be surprised what you can do with your own two hands to put a smile on many faces--including your own.

I like to think that the reason the air seemed so filled with excitement and energy after Lana's speech is both because of her inspiring address, and because many of you are so proud of what our club does and what it will be doing. I know I am.

Rotary Does It!

Hamming it Up

Service Above Self does not have to be directly related to Rotary. Service can take many different forms and you can even serve others as part of a hobby. Once you are used to serving others, it just comes naturally.

On Sunday I helped with communications for the Cayuga Lake Triathlon. This once again reinforced my belief that even with all the cell phones we have, there is no substitute for the efficiency and reliability of amateur radio. Members of the Tompkins County Amateur Radio Club were stationed at Cass Park, at Taughannock State Park, and at strategic intersections along a 4-mile stretch north along Rt. 89. We passed messages to race officials and amongst ourselves to help assure the safety of the more than 700 bicyclists.

With ham radio all of the radio operators can hear what is going on at the same time and communications within the whole group is instantaneous; we are all monitoring the same frequency. So we can keep the race organizers informed of any needs that arise along the race course. Fortunately there was only one small accident, but the ham on the scene radioed it in immediately and the ambulance was there in very short order. Even if it is not an emergency, if a rider needs something, say a bike repair, help is as close as the nearest ham.

Just think how cumbersome this all would be using cell phones (if they worked at all in every place along the whole race course). You could not have open and continuous communications going at all times, giving everyone involved a complete picture of what is occurring on the race course. Then, if you had to reach someone, you would have to call the number, wait for the person to answer, and then, if more people needed to know the same thing, a second, third, or fourth individual call would have to be completed. This is very time consuming and inefficient.

That is why organizers of such events ask hams to handle their communications. For instance, we had a cadre of nearly 100 hams working at the Empire State Games, as we do every year. And year after year we are invited back since there is simply no other good way to handle the needed communications.

Besides this is all good practice for us. In the event of a wide-spread disaster, ham radio communications may be all that's left. Scary, but very true--even in this day and age.

So hurray for ham radio!

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