"I tried to be nice to people on the way up," said Walter Winchell, "because I knew I would see them on the way down".
I remain grateful today to all those Rotarians who were and are more than welcoming to me at our Tuesday meetings, and especially when I was starting out. I am off to PETs again this year, and this time it is on your dime!
Yes, I expect the weather vanes of conventional Rotary wisdom will be engaged in another round of angst about Rotary decline. There will be new theories, old slogans, talk about our global impact, the Asian awakening, and how North America's economic and political instability impact Rotary. There will be the anti-declinist point of view around the implausible assumption of indefinite or uninterrupted growth as being unrealistic. Among these cross-currents, my thesis is, like this single malt, simple. The question of whether Rotary is in decline cannot be answered yes or no. There is no yes or no. Both answers are wrong! Because the assumption that somehow there exists some predetermined inevitable trajectory, the result of uncontrollable external forces, (like millennials), is wrong. Nothing is inevitable. Nothing is settled. There is no settled science, no settled politics, no settled law (although the Kavanaugh hearing might suggest Roe vs Wade is settled law) and no settled economic predictors.
For Rotary today, decline is not a condition. Decline is a choice and in our hands. This week we will be voting on another project that has polarizing implications. I agree with those that feel we need to recalibrate the discourse that happens, all too frequently, and has become an unbalanced approach. Our challenges do not have an "either-or" answer but rather a "both and". Without question, we need to have accountability, but no balance sheet can predict the future of the individuals and non-profits that we have supported. Look no further than the strive scholarships. Risk is something that Rotary is in the business of taking and therein lies the "both and". Non-profits are what continue to perpetuate the innovation in our society, often filling the void of failed government supported initiatives. Their ideas do not just fall out of the sky. They are generated from imagination, intelligence, and creativity. There is no single way to Judge performance on much of what needs to happen in the world. We can do randomized control trials on a microfinance program or on a conditional cash transfer program. There are lots of smart people that do these testings. How do we run a randomized control trial on the strive scholarships? How do we know that we are imbuing in our community the kinds of values that make a more democratic society? How do we evaluate that? There are qualitative ways the experts call mixed methodology that helps us understand progress, but the risk is what Einstein reminded us of "there are many things in the world that can not be measured but we must invest in them none the less".
There are few organizations like Rotary that are as impactful both in our communities and around the world. We are in over 45 countries around the globe in a varied set of domains investing in projects and peace. This is the Rotary grant machine. To my knowledge, we are not in the business of conjecture and speculation.
I suggest then that we focus on what we do well and what makes us the most human, That we approach our philanthropy with humility. Charity and developing friendships with-in Rotary and around the world. Get out and vote. See you on Tuesday.
Regards,
Stuart Dickson
President-Elect, Rotary Club of Kelowna