Editor of Rotary International’s magazine addresses importance of connectivity
For 115 years, Rotary International has established a reputation as being among the world’s premiere service organizations.
Beyond that, John Rezek stressed, is an emphasis on connection that can be beneficial in helping to steer people globally through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rezek served as guest speaker recently for McMurray Rotary Club, which has been conducting meetings by a videoconferencing platform while its usual gathering place, Atria’s Restaurant in Peters Township, has been unavailable. He is editor in chief of The Rotarian, a publication that has been recognized as one of the top five association magazines in the United States.
“As we learn about the world and our communities indirectly – online, for example – we’re getting a lot of information about how much of this leads to understanding,” Rezek said from Evanston, Ill., where the world headquarters of the 1.2 million-member Rotary International is located.
“What’s clear to me is that we need to make the efforts to communicate better with each other. We need to get better at expressing ourselves and speaking from our own experiences,” he continued. “We need to hear from each other because, as it turns out, that’s a basic survival skill.”
Speaking at the invitation of North Strabane Township resident Stephanie Urchick – a McMurray club member and director of Rotary International Zones 33-34, spanning from Pennsylvania to the Caribbean – Rezek shared the importance of connectivity by way of an interview conducted for the August issue of The Rotarian.
The resulting article features Dr. Vivek Murthy, former U.S. Surgeon General and author of the book “Together: The Healing Power of Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.”
In it, he writes that 22% of American adults say they are often or always feeling lonely.
“That’s 55 million people, twice the number of those who suffer from diabetes,” Rezek reported. “There are similar figures around the world, and he believes the numbers are underreported.”
In his book, Murthy writes that loneliness is “not determined by the number of people around you, but how you feel about the connections in your life.”
“People who are surrounded by hundreds of others, whether they are students on a college campus or workers in a busy office, may be lonely if they don’t feel those are people with whom they can fully be themselves,” Rezek quoted. “Others, who may have only a few people around them, may not feel lonely at all if they feel good about those relationships.”
During the interview with Murthy, staff members of The Rotarian asked his opinion about how people can form meaningful bonds with one another. He cited opportunities presented by the pandemic as a “deep shared experience in times of natural disaster, not just the shared pain and trauma of a disaster, but also the shared joy and inspiration from the response to that trauma,” according to Rezek.
“Right now, people want to help. What they don’t know is where to go to actually do something meaningful. Organizations can provide these opportunities. That can be extraordinarily powerful,” he quoted from the interview.
And in turn, they can provide the types of connections that overcome loneliness.
“When I started doing community work, one of the principles I was taught is that people come to the table for the mission, but they stay at the table for the people,” said Murthy in the interview. “It’s hard to sustain even the worthiest mission without building a strong sense of connection between the people who are participating.”
Rezek said The Rotarian’s August issue also will include first-person accounts of Rotarians who have served as essential workers during the pandemic, plus reports from throughout the world on how Rotary clubs are responding to the crisis.
A publication that includes numerous regional editions and has a total circulation of more than 500,000, The Rotarian traces its roots to a periodical issued in 1911 as a 12-page periodical.
“Some of our clubs are so proud of the magazine that we recycle them,” Urchick told Rezek. “What we do is put a label on the address to cover up our name and address, and then we give them to waiting rooms, businesses and medical offices so that other people can enjoy The Rotarian, as well.”
The magazine’s editor expressed gratitude.
“Anything that boosts circulation is an editor’s dream,” he said. “So please pass them on, and the more people who know about us and the work we do, the better.”
For more information, visit www.facebook.com/mcmurrayrotaryclub and www.rotary.org.