Rotary and the Power of Belief

Truly meaningful moments in life sometimes arrive quietly. So subtle that you can hardly recall. No trumpets blaring. No colorful flags waving. No fanfare or cheering.
Silent. Serene. As subtle as the faint whisper of the wind on a moonless night.
And if you listen carefully to the silence you can learn much.
It was early February 1968 and Rotary was about to teach me a lifelong lesson.
I was miserable. I was a Sophomore at Notre Dame. Trudging home to my residence hall on a night of sub-zero temperatures and new-frozen snow. My feet were freezing and my nose could not stop sniffling. Classes were really tough! I was mired in what I now know was called a “Sophomore Slump.” My head was bent against the cold. I was hunched over, carrying all the cargo of my late adolescent peer-induced obligations.
I took this path home every night after studying at the library. Tonight I was, as the language of the day would provide – “bummed out.” Graduation seemed like it would be decades into the future. Also, I got a “C” in Econ during the fall semester. I had never gotten a “C” in any class. Ever. I was terminally BUMMED!
I stopped for only a moment and a thought entered my slump-addled mind. A thought that I needed. That I wanted. It was transformative and life-long.
“Hey! Wait a minute,” I thought to myself, “ Remember something here! You got some partial scholarship money from a group called Medford Rotary to help you with your tuition. Do you know WHY you won that help? And, WHY would they help?”
Good question.
So between falling snowflakes, I took a moment to answer myself.
The answer was that some folks I had never met (and would be unlikely to ever meet) took the time to write a check to help me succeed. But, WHY?
The answer hit me like a two ton snowflake. WHOOMP!
“Because they BELIEVED in me.”
So, If someone I had never met (and was unlikely to ever meet) believed in me enough to write a check to help me succeed – well, I probably better start believing in myself. So, I did.
And from that moment on I was never alone on my academic journey. At times, I might feel a twinge of lonely. But never alone. There’s a world of difference.
It was life-changing. From that moment on I was fueled by BELIEF.
The folks who provided the funds to help me succeed were Rotarians in far-off Medford, Oregon. Over two thousand miles away.
Members of Rotary write checks because they believe in the power to help change the lives of young people.
I don’t know how many people’s lives have been changed all over the world.
But I know of one.
And it happened just before midnight on an intensely quiet freezing February night in Northern Indiana.
Two and a half years later I graduated with honors. I couldn’t have done it alone. Because I wasn’t alone.
Rotary helped make it happen.
(Marc Bayliss is a trustee at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. After graduation from Notre Dame, he was awarded a Rotary International Ambassadorial Fellowship to study in Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria. He has been a member of Rotary for 46 years.)