Fred Shatsky
Deja vu. After 17 years, I'm back to serve a second term as President. If there is no record of a president of any organization having served two terms 17 years apart, perhaps it's a fact worthy of submission to the Guiness Book of World Records. If submitted, I suspect the response might be, "You must be off your rocker". Well, it just so happens one of our members (jokingly, I hope) said I must be off my rocker to want to be president again.
That member was indeed correct, if I had truly "wanted" to be president again. It was not a matter of want, but rather my inability to resist the friendly persuasion, praise and plea I got from a very effective member of the nominating committee. She would have likely nominated other members who were not a pushover like me.
I really don't mind having accepted the nomination. I am proud to be President of the Rockers. My reluctance was that it would deprive younger members who are likely more suited for the position than I am. Nevertheless, I intend to devote time and effort with a very competent board to provide incentives that may inspire members to want to serve in “elected" positions. It would be nice to have elections with ballots that show candidates competing for positions.
The President's Message is meant to inspire the membership, but unless it's read by enough members, it may be a wasted effort. I believe the letters I wrote during my first term for mailed newsletters were probably read by a larger percentage of members than those who may have read President's Messages posted on the GOYR website. We now have a remarkable website with many interesting useful links, but it may be overwhelming to check them before instantly checking the calendar of events.
Before I put effort into composing the next President's Message, I'd like to know if many members have read this one, so if you are reading this, please state so in a comment sent to president@getoffyourrockers.org. Even derogatory comments will be appreciated. If you feel this message sucked, please state so.
Proudly, Fred (POTR)