The Machine

Six faithful posted Downtown.  Here is what happened.

Warm up

• SSH
• Toy Soldier
• Don Quioxte
• Merkins
• Mountain Climbers

The Thang

Mosey to outside parking lot at the Gastonia Conference Center garage.

Elevens w/ Merkins and LBCs with 40 yard sprints across parking lot.

Mosey to find Spiderman and Whoopee (who had an uncontrollable uneasy feeling that someone was bird-dogging our unprotected cars awaiting an opportunity to take advantage).

Eleven’s w/ Burpee’s and LBC’s with 75 yard sprints from Pavilion to W.Main Ave.

Pledge (thanks for the reminder Whoopee)

Seven Minutes of Mary (well kind of) – People’s Choice

• Dying Cockroach (Bandit)
• Flutter kicks (Stroganoff)
• Sprint to top fire escape (Outhouse)
• Mountain Climbers (Spiderman)
• LBC (Linus)
• Merkins (Whoopee)

Don’t recall all the details, but we started another round and definitely hit the fire escape one last time.

We wrapped up with Name-O-Rama, COT and BOM.

Announcements

• YETI is February 20.  Come route on Defib, Brownstreak, Whoopee and Dolph!
• Lincolnton launching in spring. Gastonia has offered to help lead workouts and post to support.
• Happy Hour is February 23.  Last Tuesday at Mayworth’s
• Spiderman’s hat is the hot new fashion!  Not yet available at MudGear.com, but maybe one day.

Prayers

• Dustin’s test results came back again – all clean!
• Outhouse’s mom for her cancer treatments.

NMM

As we circled up for 7MOM Friday morning, I mentioned that the logo we surrounded reminds us that we are all cogs in the gears that drive the Big Ball.  I am not a Rotarian (nor a mechanical engineer) and must admit I was unaware of the history or meaning of the Rotary Wheel emblem which is the centerpiece of the Rotary Centennial Pavilion where we workout in downtown Gastonia each Friday.  Stroganoff (an actual Rotarian) suggested I should write that idea down.  So with a little more thought and research, here it is…

First, a little history… A quick search on the Google machine revealed that a wheel has been the symbol of Rotary since their earliest days, early on as a simple wagon wheel.  The Rotary Wheel is said to illustrate “Civilization and Movement”.  In 1922, it was decided that all Rotary clubs should adopt a single design. So in the early 1920s, the present gear wheel, with 24 cogs and six spokes was adopted.  However, a group of engineers advised that the geared wheel was mechanically unsound and would not work without a “keyway” in the center of the gear to attach it to a power shaft. So, in 1923 the keyway was added and was formally adopted as the official Rotary International emblem.

In mechanical engineering, a gear is a rotating machine part having cogs which mesh with another toothed part (often other gears) to transmit torque. Like a clock or other complex machine, many gears may work together to produce some desired outcome (maybe to invigorate male leadership is our communities). If the cogs are worn or broken, the machine may run poorly or perhaps stop altogether, sometimes damaging other cogs.

But by itself, a gear does nothing. It requires Movement. In our lives, Movement occurs through Individual Initiative. It takes a man saying, “today I am going to do something to be better” and then to follow through and actually do that thing.  It might be posting to a workout to physically challenge yourself.  It might be volunteering to serve others in your community.  It might be making a hard decision at work.  It might be reaching out to someone in trouble or in need, or holding others accountable.  It might be putting work aside to spend time with your family.

Now just as the engineers noted with the Rotary Wheel, the gear which has no keyway to lock it to the shaft will not spin. This gear cannot be transfer the torque to other areas of the machine and provides no benefit to the machine.  F3 provides us with a key to lock our individual initiative together with other men for a common purpose.

The interactions we have with others in our daily lives resemble how the cogs come together between the gears and drive the machine.  If we are worn or broken cogs, we have limited or no capacity to impact others around us. In severe cases, we can break other parts of the machine. By surrounding ourselves with other HIM, we continuously sharpen and hone ourselves (and our brothers) to keep the cogs in good working order.  Only then can we use the machine to invigorate male leadership in our community.

As always, I appreciate the opportunity to lead and be led by my brothers… to sharpen my skills… to help one small gear drive The Machine.

Aye!