Phillipians here I come?

It was a Saturday in October when I heard that I had been selected to go to the Philippians. It was a very strange day and a lot of emotions where felt this particular day. I woke up early this Saturday, for two reasons; April had to finish her laundry which she had started the previous night and I had to travel across state to meet some folks about a trip to work with another Conservation halfway around the world.

We woke up in a hurry; April turned to me and asked how long we had until we had to leave. Without taking thought into the question I replied 8 minutes, which sounded about right. April then rushed out of bed to finish her laundry so we could get into Philadelphia in time for me to be at the meeting on time. We successfully did just this.

On the way down to the meeting, I stopped for a Turbo at Dunkin Donuts (which is coffee with a shot of espresso); I added an extra shot of espresso for good measure. I was nervous and at times I can be rather shy when meeting new people. I got to the dinner about a half hour early so I decided to read some of the morning paper and have another cup of coffee. I saw the rotary folks come in one at a time while I waited for the meeting to start. About 10 minutes before the meeting started I snuck my way into where the rotary members where and I introduced myself to the panel of members.

Unaware of how the morning was to play out, I started rambling about something or the other until a gentleman told me to come out into the dining area and order some breakfast. I ordered the French toast but before the breakfast was in front of my face, the person whom I thought was leading the meeting told me to come with him. I followed him back into the room in which I had just left and was formally introduced. I had just been selected to go first in an interview situation.

Now, with my heart racing and my palms sweaty I reluctantly told the panel of what were now the interviewers that I was pretty nervous and to take it easy on me. Taking several deep breaths, I started to answer their questions and I tried to be as charming as possible. While this process was underway, I started thinking to myself how uncomfortable I was sitting there being drilled about my personal life and also my knowledge about the Philippians. It even dawned on me during the interview that I had no idea what the rotary club was and what it stood for. I knew we were going to partner with the rotary club located in the Philippians but I did not know what for. I had to stop the interview and ask several questions of my own. After I thought I bombed the interview, this older gentleman asked me a question about conflict and how I would handle myself in such a situation. This really threw me through a loop. I answered the soft spoken man, I never go through my day worry about what conflicts may arise. Conflicts take two willing people who dispute over a common purpose. If we know who we are and we know where we are going, a conflict should not arise. We can not let other people influence who we ultimately are. If a conflict does arise while living in close quarters we can defuse the conflict by take a minute to really think about what we are trying to accomplish, even if this means leaving the situation and thinking about the conflict. We then can re-evaluate the conflict and come back to the problem at hand and resolve like human-beings. I thought it was weird that they asked a question about conflicts within a group but I guess they don’t know who I am anymore than I know who they are.

After the interview I went back to the table where my breakfast was. Now cold, I ordered a coffee and sat with the other candidates trying to go on this trip. All nice, not all going, they went in one at a time. I stayed until the last candidate went in for his interview until I went home. On the drive home I felt violated and used, felt like a lonely dog trying to get a bone from a master who was never around. It was a long and silent ride back to my house as rain started falling.

Once I got back to my house, I went for a nice long walk with Utah and then met up with a group of people for a bachelor’s party. I couldn’t get the interview out of my head and it was making my stomach very upset. About an hour into the bachelor’s party, the rotary called, they had made up their minds. I was officially accepted to join their team in the efforts to work along with the Philippians’ Rotary in a human health community service.

I was totally blown away, still am, but I guess what was once a fantasy is now becoming a reality. Even though this is happening, I feel as there are better qualified people for this opportunity. April is an amazing person and she volunteers without ever asking for anything in return. My mom was always in an argument because she wanted to volunteer more. There are even people here at the Conservation who volunteers on a local level where as I sit and observe from the outside or I through in opinions but never really get involved. Others deserve this more than me but I am going to do my best to make this opportunity a starting block for volunteering.