Wii World vs. Rotary World

Those who know me know the Lord spared me the heartaches of raising boys. Nellie and I were blessed with four girls and we wouldn’t trade them, mostdays, for anything or anyone. Yet, that day came when there was one particularguy showing up too dang much at our home and pretty much trying to help us catchup with unspent grocery money in the way he ate. Now, don’t get me wrong, thisyoung man is now my son-in-law and the father of my first grandbaby, so I thinkI’ve pretty much forgiven him for stealing my daughter off to California forabout a year and then to Galveston and then to make up living with us forseveral months not too long ago. Eric is his name and he’s a typical guy hisage. Sometimes I think he’s a bit younger than his driver’s license claims,but that’s another story.

Eric has always had a passion for video games, both those housed in computersand those housed in video consoles. I don’t know, to be quite honest with you,the difference between a PlayStation or an Xbox or a Wii. I was of an earliergeneration where we played tops, marbles, yo-yos, and bicycles. I think wepaid 25-cents for the tops that got us started and then we just won the others. The same for marbles. Yo-yos were mostly a distraction. And bicycles were alifeblood, a utility, a vehicle for transportation and fun. I do remember myyoungest brother having the first video game that came into the house after Iwas long gone and that was some sort of game called Pong. It was like avideogame on drowsy medicine. It went slowly from one side of the black andwhite television to other other and the object was to use a “paddle” to “hit”the “ball” or whatever back to your opponent. It was kind of like playing realping pong after having stayed up all night and having no coffee to drink. Iremember how long it took for the game to load since it was part of an Atari 64computer. And this running on a cassette desk hooked to the computer's console. My brother never could afford any programs.

I do know that at a recent church conference of all things, a famous theologian, whowas a presenter at the meeting in trying to relate the work of the churchcompared that work to a Wii. He spoke highly of the Sony Playstation and itsapparent superiority to the Wii's graphics and capabilities. He said thatSony's console offered far superior games to the Wii's, but that the Wii had aculture to it that he could not explain and thank God because I could not understand. He mentioned the control stick and the entire environment of this interesting game. He spoke of the interface and the ability to attract and retain attention to what is being presented. Don't worry the more I write, the more I also wonder, what does this have to do with Rotary?

Rotary has had a culture for over a hundred years. Are we adapting to the culture around us or are we hoping for the folks who visit us and think about joining us should adapt to us? What is our interface? Are we good at being an eat and greet organization only or do we interface in ways that show that we're all about the external culture, the one who needs our help as Rotarians? To borrow a church word, Rotary can be missional in its outreach to others. I don't think Paul Harris would mind our using that word as what we should represent, people that care about others. How could we phrase that? Oh yes, service about self.

Rotary Shares,
President Eddie