Rotarians Got Heart

Today is Valentine’s Day and many people are celebrating love and romance with gifts of candy, flowers, cards and special events.  We see the heart motif everywhere and for some reason this morning I wondered where we get the term ‘you got heart?’  According to many traditions, the heart chakra has important meaning – it’s the center of love, caring and compassion, selflessness.  According to Llewellyn attributes of the heart chakra are love, balance, relationship and compassion.  Well this gave me some information but I decided to leave the study of chakras to the experts and moved on to an area I knew a bit more about – sports.

You’ve seen the Rocky movies where Rocky just won’t give up; he digs deep down inside himself to find the strength.  Boxing is well-known for the use of the term ‘he has heart.’  In this context it seems to have meanings of motivation, spirit, energy, and perhaps, passion.  And of course the musical Damn Yankees belts it for us.

The Olympics are another place that continues to define ‘you got heart.’  Just think about Oscar Pitorius.  Speak of motivation, energy, effort and passion.  There are hundreds and thousands of stories that help define ‘you got heart.’

I think about Rotarians around the globe working so hard to make a difference and to change and save lives.  Here in our district Rotarians traveled to Haiti to install water filters in villages with no source of clean water.  A Volunteer Training Team traveled to the Dominican Republic to teach doctors and nurses there lifesaving techniques of heart operations for children in need.  Another Team just returned from Kumudini Hospital in Bangladesh where they trained nurses in midwifery skills.  All around the world, Rotary Clubs are seeking grants from The Rotary Foundation to provide clean water, sanitation, education, economic recovery and disease prevention in some of the most difficult and remote places on earth.  They do it with love, compassion, high spirit, great energy and they don’t give up.

To me, that’s a true definition of ‘You Got Heart.’  Happy Valentine’s Day Rotarians everywhere.