With thanks to Matt Ball, Ann Romney attended our weekly ZOOM meeting last Friday and shared her powerful and personal story of suffering and overcoming fear. When I asked her if support for her work to find a cure for neurological diseases comes from all sides of the political spectrum, she said that it did. But she quickly acknowledged that it is hard to work together on anything when we are so divided. Her words that follow, ring true to me.

Unfortunately, suffering does bring us together. The only thing that truly heals is love and kindness and we are in very short supply right now in this country.

It will be interesting to see what the perspective of the post 2020 pandemic will be. It would be my prayer truly that we would be kinder to one another, more understanding and more loving. If Covid-19 can make us be like that, that wouldn't be a bad outcome.

It breaks my heart because we are all vulnerable. We are all wounded in some way or another, and we need more understanding in this world. We need more compassion. We need more love, we need more forgiveness. That's what I'm trying to do.

—ANN ROMNEY

Be kind. Forgive one another. Be compassionate. Stay safe.

I hope to see you online at our weekly meeting this Friday.

Rick Gibson
President, Rotary Club of Los Angeles
​2019 - 2020