The lessons of the Titanic and of the Chinese bamboo

Everybody knows the story of the Titanic, the transatlantic ship that was built with an excessive pride under the aura that it would never sink. It took three years to be built and a few minutes to be destroyed.

The first lesson we take from this incident is: It is easy to create but it it is easier to destroy, the difficulty is to maintain. This lesson is directly related to the reputation of Rotary and its Foundation in the community. To maintain it requires a lot of dedication and hard work and it is based on accomplishments.

The second lesson is related to the sometimes exaggerated pride with success, because without clarity of mind and without humbleness to admire it, success precedes the fall. To reach success in any humanitarian project, four actions are needed and are directly under our control:

1. Put on it the maximum of ourselves to build a strong foundation 2. Use the best instruments and resources, 3. Chose the best place for it to be applied and reach the best results and 4. The persistence and the quantity of effort

These four factors are interrelated in the example of the necessary process to obtain the famous Chinese bamboo, from which a flute with refined sound is built. The seeds of the bamboo are sowed,

watered and seasoned day after day without missing anyone. Nothing happens on the first year, on the second year and not even on the fifth year. But after five years of absence of any manifestation of growth and a reward for the daily effort, the plant emerge from the ground and in six weeks the Chinese bamboo reaches the height of almost 80 feet. How long did it took for the bamboo to grow? Six weeks? No, it took five years. The success in everything we do requires persistence, preparation and a strong foundation. When we are ready, give the maximum of our effort and the best of our potential to reach the best results without losing our courage.

The third lesson comes from the boy that was bitten by a dog and by medical order he and by consequence his family were not able to go aboard of the Titanic. The family expressed her sorrow by blaming all and everyone for his misfortune, after the effort of saving so much money to make this trip on the fantastic ship. Until they knew about the sink of the ship, after which they started to give blessings to the dog that did not allowed them to go on board. This lesson demonstrates that: What is good and what is bad is only on our minds.

The fourth lesson comes from the attitude of the passengers of the Titanic that were able to be rescued from the shipwreck. Those who tried to compete with others for a place on the live-saver boats, knowing that there were not enough boats for everybody, did perish trying. This lesson applied to Rotary, tell us that if we want to obtain success on the completion of any project we should avoid competetion but instead the collaboration of all involved.

With all these lessons in mind we will see the projects we are involved come to a successful end, proving that happiness and success comes before work only in the dictionary. And that this success depends on our optimistic attitudes and adequate selections.