The Growth of a Motto

This is a seminal insight I have seen: The development or growth of an organization can be seen in its ability to “self-correct.” This adaptiveness reveals an ability to be nimble in the face of change. In a recent search I noted the “motto’s” adaptations: At the Kiwanis inception, “WE TRADE” captured its commercial culture. In 1920 the trade or barter system gave way to a less immediate and more enduring motto, “WE BUILD.” In 2000 the motto focused beyond merely enduring to something even more investing to “SERVING THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.”

Kiwanis Music Finals Poem by Salvatore Ala

The practice area is like an orchard of sound
Where you pick fruit as it ripens
And falling doesn’t touch the ground.

You can harvest grapes from this vine
That grows along the staff of time
Following the sun into drums of wine.

The pianos seem near and far
Like conversations behind doors
Or rain on the roof of your car.

The practice area is a paradise
Where even angels clash
And beauty is soundly imprecise.

Please listen to the children play,
Their music is so unaffected
You’ll hear the origins of rhapsody.

This poem, “Kiwanis Music Finals” was deemed a “find” or “discovery” last week in our club meeting. It does chart the adaptive spirit of Kiwanis. Mixing the images of a rehearsal arena with a vineyard - the music of fruit ripening and filling of “drums of wine” are captivating. The pianos are imperfectly practicing and their “beauty is soundly imprecise.” The TRADE of wine the BUILDING of a stage give way to the only work that children universally employ, “play!” As a student of theology, I am pondering the practice area “Where even angels clash” as a backdrop to the rhapsody of transformation and change. Serving the children of the world” speaks to me of the resilience that we can bring to boys and girls touched by the accumulation of historical trauma.

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