As I type this at 5:45 Saturday morning, my television is tuned to a multiview screen. I am simultaneously watching CNN, Fox News, BBC and MSNOW.
This is completely normal behavior for me.
I have always been a television news junkie. For years, I had the privilege of serving as a breaking-news commentator — sometimes standing at unfolding scenes involving national security, law enforcement operations, civil unrest or terror attacks; other times sitting under studio lights as events developed in real time.
I loved it. I still do.
There is something about breaking news that fascinates me — the urgency, the controlled chaos behind the scenes, and the remarkable process of taking incomplete and rapidly changing information and turning it into something understandable for the people watching at home.
There is also a slight contradiction in my personality that I have never quite figured out.
Put me in front of hundreds of people at an industry conference, and I’m perfectly comfortable. Put me on live television with thousands watching and someone talking into my ear while events are unfolding around me — no problem.
Put me in a small group of people I barely know and expect me to make casual conversation?
I would rather rotate my toenails with a pair of pliers.
Which brings me, strangely enough, to Rotary.
One of the things I appreciate about this Club is that there is room for all kinds of people. Some can walk into a room and know everyone in twenty minutes. Others would rather be given a job to do, a problem to solve, or — in my case — a microphone.
We don’t all have to contribute in the same way.
The best organizations recognize what people are good at, give them a place to use it, and appreciate that sometimes the person who isn’t working the room may still be working very hard for the room.
Different personalities. Different strengths. Same purpose.
And now, back to my four television screens.
Until next Wednesday, may something good happen because you were there.
— Ross
Via Zoom
