Dear Rotary Club of Tucson,
Well it is time for my 4th quarter letter to the membership. So what does one say to the members when everything has been shut down? I don’t think anyone could ever imagine any event which would close nearly every business in the United States. So clearly, we are living through and experiencing something we may never see at this scale again in our lifetimes. At least the older members can remember the Depression or WWII for comparison purposes. Club members from my age bracket might remember JFK being assassinated, September 11 and the financial meltdown of 2008-2009. Crazy times indeed.
In my letter from a few weeks ago, I mentioned I was a glass half full kind of guy and I believed there was still a silver lining to all of this craziness.
Well, I think I have found a few silver linings in the past few weeks of social distancing:
Consider the following:
1. Pollution – In major cities all over the world, air pollution is at their very lowest levels and the air is amazingly clean. The Canals in Venice are the cleanest they have ever been in years.
2. Traffic – can you believe how easy it is to get around town right now? Below is a photo from RUSH HOUR traffic at 5:30 PM last week. Incredible. How about parking? Go ahead, pick a parking spot, ANY parking spot.
Rush Hour Traffic (5:30 PM) on Swan Road last week !!
3. The value of toilet paper – Now since TP is such a valued and rare commodity; we are all safe from the pranks of the teenage population. No more “teepeeing” someone’s home.
4. Future pandemics – The politicians can play the blame game all they want. Who knew what, when. It doesn’t matter. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE could have predicted the scale of the pandemic on our society. But guess what? Since we have now experienced it first-hand and understand our exposure and lack of readiness, we will be much better prepared the next time. And trust me, there will likely be a next time.
5. Bars -- No waiting in long lines to order a drink at the bar. Just go to your kitchen cupboard and pour your own. Also, think of all the money you are saving in bar tips.
6. Career – If you hate your job, maybe you have finally figured out when this is all over, it could be time to do something else with your life.
7. United States manufacturing – Now, when we realize many of our medications, PPE equipment and other essential items are manufactured overseas, it might be time to bring some of these industries back to U.S. soil. I don’t know about you, but I am willing to pay a little more for U.S. made products right now.
8. Education – Funny how in the span of a couple of weeks, we can take the entire U.S. educational system from a classroom format to an online format. Related to colleges and universities, maybe some might think that having everyone sit in a large campus auditorium in a huge building on expensive real estate in the center of major cities may not be the best model. How about hassling with parking on campus and paying expensive tuition? Will education change in some fashion? It sure looks like it to me.
9. Work Life Balance – What is more important – your fancy house, expensive car, big job, and crazy busy lifestyle or your wife, family, kids, Rotarians and stepping back a little to enjoy life more? I think many are reevaluating things right now.
10. The Outdoors – Have you been on The Loop (the Riverwalk) recently? It is insane how many people have discovered that walking outside for an hour or so can be such a beautiful and liberating experience. Even more so if you do it with a partner, family member or friend.
11. Projects You have been putting off – OK, all of you admit it. There are things around the house you have been putting off for weeks, months, and sometimes years. As an example, the horse trough in the picture below we bought over 3 years ago and it has been sitting by our gate in the backyard. The intent was it would one day be a beautiful planter in our back yard. Thank you COVID-19! It is finally finished! What projects have you finished in the past month?
The Horse Trough we bought THREE YEARS ago!
Finally, it is the planter it was meant to be….
12. Politics – When is the last time you saw a political attack ad commercial on TV? It is nice to see politics pushed to the sideline for a while.
13. Home Schooling – As a former teacher, maybe now that parents have been forced to take over the teaching duties, they now understand how hard the job is. Finally, maybe our society will place a higher priority on the value of teachers. They do incredible work and have been marginalized too long.
14. Communication – Who had ever heard of ZOOM a month ago? When forced to learn something new, it is amazing how we can incorporate a new technology into our daily lives. Also, we are learning the value of picking up a phone and actually SPEAKING with someone. Texting, email and social media will never go away, but in the whole scheme of things, how important really are the number of LIKES, FRIENDS, SHARES and such one has on social media. Really?
15. Polio eradication – When Rotary International completes the eradication of Polio, the world will take notice and understand the impact and importance of vaccines.
16. Sports – Look, I spent nearly 20 years in the field of sports, coaching and athletic administration. When ALL spectator sports are taken away, one may step back and re-evaluate the value of expensive season tickets to help pay exorbitant coaching and athlete salaries. Just a thought.
In conclusion, this will end and it will end in the next few months we all hope. But maybe some of these silver linings and lifestyle changes will be a good thing for everyone. Stay safe out there and hope to see you all together soon at the Doubletree!
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President BOB LOGAN called the meeting to order reminding us, regarding the worldwide challenge of the coronavirus, to “stay strong” and “this is touching everyone”. President BOB is looking for ideas of how our club can respond to the situation and shared a newscast of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles and their work to make 30,000 medical face masks. (If someone has an idea, please let President BOB know.)
Matt Russell did the video introduction of our speaker, Dr. Terry Hunt, Dean of the University of Arizona Honors College and foremost expert on Easter Island. Dr. Hunt gave a fascinating presentation on his 20 year study of Easter Island and the 1,000 multi-ton giant statues. President BOB had him sign “20 Fun Facts about Easter Island” for the Make Way for Books library.
The following New Member application has been submitted for membership in Rotary Club of Tucson:
