“There’s a big difference between confidence and conceit. To me, conceit is bragging about yourself. Being confident means you believe you can get the job done, but you can’t get the job done unless you also have the confidence that the other guys are going to get their jobs done too. Without them I’m nothing.”
Johnny Unitas
I came across the above quotation the other day and immediately I realized that it is the perfect credo for a
successful elks lodge. The officers and the trustees must have confidence in what they are doing. They need to believe they can get the job done, but that is not enough. They must also have confidence that the people they delegate to, that the people they ask for help are also going shoulder their load and get their jobs done. Commitment is contagious. Sometimes your confidence takes a hit. Like when
people start resigning from your lodge, you want to find a cause, you want to you fix what is wrong. Sometimes however there is nothing wrong, You just get caught up in set of circumstances. We are in such
a period now because of transfers and changes occurring outside of our control we have lost many elks
in the last few months. This has shaken our confidence even though we added 16 new members to the lodge
this year we still have a net loss.
I am not discouraged however because I believe we are doing the right things I am confident circumstances will change and we will bounce back and know all of us will do are best everyday to see that we reach our original goal of 60 new members this year.
I would like to close this month’s column with an apology. In my haste and excitement to welcome new elks and let them know how much I appreciate there being involved in lodge activities, I have committed a grave wrong. I have made some of our most loyal and helpful volunteers feel unwanted and unappreciated. While this was not my intention, it was the result. So here and now I want to apologize to these elks. I realize if it were not for you who have had a long term commitment to this lodge and it’s activities many years before I took the obligation there would be nothing
here for me to try and rebuild. Thank you for all you’ve done please continue to make your important contributions and forgive this error. I am sure it won’t be my last.