Page 16 - voices-2021-07

FROM THE DESK

First Impressions Only Happen Once

Jim Robison, DTM
Club Growth Director

it was right after Easter, the meeting theme
was centered on Easter. The meeting
was opened with an invocation
that was a prayer presented

by one of our more devout
Christian members.
The table topics then
had questions that

related to Easter.
However,
our guest was
Jewish and

took offense at
the decidedly
Christian-centered
nature of the meeting,

said so and left. I felt bad
A few years ago we had a guest attend our about that because normally we have tried very
meeting who got a bad first impression and never hard in our meetings to make it clear that our
returned. It still haunts me because normally club is open to people of all religions.

our club was much better than the impression Immediately after that incident we adopted a
she got. This incident occurred at a meeting standard statement to introduce the invocation
right after Easter Sunday. Our club has long or thought of the week: “This may be a religious
maintained a tradition of being open to people invocation or non-religious inspirational thought

of all religious beliefs, and of encouraging people of the week. The decision to make it a religious
to be open about their religion and accepting of invocation or non-religious thought is left to
all other religions. the person filling the role and if they make it
However, at this particular meeting, because religious the choice of religion is theirs.”

16 ONE COMMUNITY