In a state of abject frustration, I have absconded from my role as Chair of Youth Services in the Rotary E-Club Canada One. I simply needed to find a venue where my hard work could and would show results. Although my 25+ years as a Rotarian have been a delight and I have enjoyed working with the youth related programs in Ambassadorial Scholarships, Youth Leadership and International Youth Exchange, seeing young people realising that they can both have an exciting time and grow as individuals while contributing to society, I have struggled with the "busy life syndrome" exhibited by many adults who SAY they will contribute but consistently fall down and fail to support youth endeavours which require more than contributing cash to salve their commitments, rather than engaging reliably in some sweat equity. It has now been more than 6 months since I officially resigned from my Rotary Club. The first while was very difficult. I felt that I had abandoned a concept, but I have come to realise that I am still a Rotarian in my heart and in my actions. I continue my concerns and my activities, but as my personal clock is beginning to wind down, I realised that what *I* needed out of my activity was "results" which required only things from me personally, without relying on the co-option of the endeavours of others who may or may not perform.
This of itself is something worth passing along to young folks. Find something where you and you working alone can make a difference in another person's life and hang onto that aspect of yourself. Working in a group can have a multiplying effect (2+2=22 rather than =4) but if the commitment required by all parties is not there, there is always something you can do alone. Get yourself out of the negative atmosphere once it is clear it is not working, but do not give up altogether. Some great things have happened because of the determined and gradual actions of individuals. These can be small things... defending a bullied child, helping a senior citizen across a busy intersection, just smiling at someone and saying Hello!...Good Morning! Saving the world from itself may not be within your reach and it is grand to try, but keep being useful with small things along the way.
So, you may ask...... what did I do as a responsible adult to keep making myself useful? At the age of 13 I joined the air cadets. A lot of volunteers gave me an experience I grabbed at and ran with, reaching the most senior rank in the Corps and having a most exciting youth, flying, shooting, travelling, visiting other countries and getting recognition for my natural and learned skills, getting around a lot of old and new aircraft, filling my days with adventure......and along the way learning a great deal about self-discipline and about the pluses and minuses of growing up and exhibiting responsibility. During all of my adult life I kept thinking about rejoining the Air Cadets as a commissioned Volunteer Reserve officer, but circumstances didn't allow this. My work occupied my life and my service to Queen and Country in both UK and Canada was met in other ways.
However, as a retired man growing weary of the lack of progress in my Rotary Club, I saw an opening, an opportunity, to get involved again, to give back. As I have hit 65, I am considered too old to don uniform again, alas but I found a large local squadron which was desperately understaffed so I talked with the Commanding Officer and volunteered. Speaking for myself I wanted my volunteering to be useful and enjoyable, so for the first while I spent time just being there, hovering, observing seeing what blanks I thought needed filling in and seeing what the CO wanted me to do. I have to be honest I was deeply troubled by the things I saw, results of inaction or bad action by previous program intentions and the lack of disciplined structure, much of the work falling on the CO who was becoming increasingly frustrated. I was close to packing it in myself, because it was just another example of lack of committent, lack of aware understanding and had turned to chaos. I talked with the CO and offered some very frank observations and some solutions I thought I could offer and work with to help bring things back under control.
Despite my volunteer role not really fitting this insertion, I had the CO's support to do this, despite it putting me in a strange position in relationship to the other officers and officer cadets and to some degree with the cadets themselves as they had no real idea who this old guy was who was hanging around and bit by bit pulling up the standards in all directions. After about 8 months of gradually adding more and more of me and my involvement, I seem to have become a part of the fabric. The cadets, senior and junior are referring to me as Sir, asking questions, listening to answers and striving to improve. The junior officers and officer cadets, themselves largely former cadets and victims of the degraded organisation were at first rather unsure about my presence, I think largely aware that change was coming, but once they realised that I had the CO's authority for my actions and words, they began to realise that they could learn from me and have included me as part of the squadron's fabric now.
I knew there was a niche here, somewhere I could help and bring up the standards in many ways within the squadron. There is a lot of good material to work with, both in the officers and officer cadets, the senior and junior cadets. They are strivers I think and now that there is some structure and oversight in place they are responding to it well. My goal is to teach and train and demonstrate to the point that the structure becomes natural and self perpetuating, a matter of pride and automatic. I have promised them 5 years which will take me to 70. In five years, working with the officers and the cadets, existing and incoming, it will be possible to create a culture of pride, precision and knowledge. Already this squadron outperforms others in the region in many ways and is sending many cadet on flying and gliding scholarships on the International Air Cadet exchange and sundry summer camps. By the end of 5 years this is going to be a mighty squadron full of self confident and responsible youth and be the squadron of choice within the region. Team work, leadership, knowing when to ask for and accept help and a great deal of mutual and earned respect is what it will take.
I have been asked to become a paid Civilian Instructor, an employee of the Department of National Defence and appointed Standards Officer for 637 (Arrow) Squadron in Burnaby as well as shooting instructor/Range Safety Officer....so there is always somewhere out there to pay it back after someone else paid it forwards. Volunteer!
Hopefully no-one gets lazy! (laughing)
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