Club president Mark Leiser ponders questions and views the future at the one year anniversary of the Covid quarantine.
 
The first-year anniversary of COVID is upon us. What’s your word to describe the experience? Exhausted? Frustrated? Impatient? How about … Challenged? Alternatives? Progress? With little question, the last twelve months have been unlike any other in our lifetimes, and to some degree, in Rotary. Projects have been hit hard. Thoughts became proposals, proposals investigated, leading to false starts, and on occasion, success. Meetings went from live, in-person gatherings of 25 or more Rotarians and guests having dinner together to face time on Zoom with maybe something to drink… alone.

Just as time passes, our experiences with COVID are in the past. And as time continues to pass, we look forward to the future. Still, let’s not forget the past. The projects we wanted to do, that we were excited about, were dashed due to, in part, restrictions and logistics of a pandemic. Meetings and activities foregone are hopefully soon to be revived.
 
COVID will always be a “remember when” period of time. How do we act on this experience? Do we revisit what we could not achieve, or push forward to the future when the opportunity is before us?

Our greatest Rotary challenges and accomplishments to serve lie ahead on a straight or curving path. In the meantime, we stay safe and work toward our goals. Members crave togetherness and inclusion. Perhaps we shoot for a barbeque in May, with appropriate precautions. A vaccination shot may not be an end-all but for many, a beginning. Let’s move ahead where, when, and how we can. Let’s continue to do good in this world, better late than never.