Joseph L. Kagle, Jr. Essays

A Wheel That Keeps Turning

You know how a phrase rattles around in your mind when you allow it to wander away from the conflicts of daily life. The phrase is: “What goes around comes around!” At a Rotary meeting the other day I thought that this phrase was typical of this club. . Around me, I saw 360 outstanding business and professional men and women who live and work in Waco. The Rotary Club of Waco #74 was organized on May 23, 1913 and chartered by Rotary International on June 1 in that same year. It is a 90 year old wheel of success that keeps turning out civic improvements and good works.

For a wheel of progress to turn, a club must care for young people. No, care is not enough. It must give to young people so that they can give back to the community as our future leaders. Over $300,000 from the Rotary Youth Service Fund has provided places for entertainment and education, recreation equipment, clothing (when it is needed), and support for youth-oriented institutions and organizations. Another phrase that nibbles at the corners of the mind is: “Money talks.” Rotary has invested $101,900 for 130 college scholarships.

In 1967 the popular television series called “Challenge” was initiated to recognize talented area high school students for their academic knowledge under pressure. This year, Rotary celebrates its 36^th year of airing (again with a donation of $81,000 for the project) which has featured 2,200 students on 550 teams.

In 1978, the Rotary Club of Waco began its successful Leadership in Free Enterprise (LIFE) project to educate and motivate our young future innovators on the necessity and advantages of “free enterprise”.  It is the dollar that greases the turning wheel. And it is donations of Rotary dollars that have benefited 1,200 high school students. The Youth Citizenship Award project celebrates students who give of themselves to the community. So far 460 McLennan County students have been honored since its beginning in 1981 at a cost of $75,000. And in a world that has been shrinking since World War I, the Rotary Foundation recognizes the need to send our best abroad and to embrace foreign students to our shores (so far hosting 22 international students who attend Baylor University).

Recently in 2002, the Rotary Literacy Committee initiated a new project: to supplement the libraries of local elementary and middle schools of Waco Independent School District. Each month members give checks of $150 to one of the schools so that books can be purchased to encourage students to read and learn to love the written word.

So, truly, what goes around comes around. The Rotary Club of Waco’s wheel of service and selflessness builds a better community and businessmen know that a good community is a profit-filled community. When you look at the work that the Rotary Club  have done, you see that it has gone beyond its original purpose of 1913 and constantly inspires its members and the projects they conceive to reach out beyond themselves, giving “Service Above Self” (another wonderful phrase to remember).

Lyndon Baines Johnson said a sage thing: “The hardest task is not to do what is right but to know what is right.” Add that quote to this by another wise Texan, Sam Rayborn, past speaker of the House of Representatives, “Any jackass can kick down a barn; it takes a good carpenter to build one,” and you have a formula for success. Know what is right, do what is right and always think of yourself as a good carpenter. The Rotary Club of Waco is a wheel that keeps turning on their favorite phrase “Service Above Self”. Fortunately, it is not the only Waco club that gives service for all of us but it is one of the best.