Busted

Wednesday, I rather spontaneously (“rather” referring to running past Pat first and gaining her encouragement) announced the “busted” challenge.

I was in a big hurry to get to the debate so am recounting the details in my dead and neglected blog – but these things are related.

Every week, I get a script with a wonderful assortment of members in the news items, and while we see them in the newsletter and on screen, it’s unfortunate to me that we don’t get a chance to share them live on Wednesdays and celebrate each others’ successes, newsworthy adventures, and wearing/not wearing of the Rotary pin.  We all want to get to our speakers and so this stuff ends up on the cutting room floor most weeks.

So I thought the blog might reawaken as a way to address that AND be a venue to have some fun for the last quarter of my term.

I’ve really been taken by surprise at the apparent fun many of you are having with the whole fining business over the wearing of the pin.  I stole this from a past president or two and am uncertain how it’s taken on a life of its own but all I know is that I cannot leave my house without running into a Rotarian and I cannot run into a Rotarian without a comment about pin wearing – not to mention the many emails and photos I get about “I was wearing my pin – SEE!”

What finally inspired me to launch the game of “busted” was the photo you see attached to this post.  Walking into Bonfyre last Wednesday (in fairness after changing out of business attire and attending a casual event), I ran into Brad Hutter walking out.  Brad naturally (1) put on my name tag which I was still sporting (classy!) and (2) had his pin on.

In short:  Busted.

So, I will kick this off retroactively by fining myself $5 for the double-whammy:  Me = no pin.  Brad = pin.  Brad wearing my nametag I am not entirely sure what to do about so we will just leave that alone.

Here are the rules to “Busted”:

• You encounter me out and about in business casual or business attire (i.e. not lawn-mowing outfit or evening gown) and I am not wearing a Rotary pin and I fine myself $1.

• I encounter you under same circumstances and I fine you $1.

• If you are wearing your pin and I am not wearing mine, I am fined $5.

Why this will work:  As many of you have noticed, I usually wear my pin on Wednesday.  This requires me to know where it is and apply it to my clothing.  This is a lot of effort but since I’m generally mindful of presiding over the meeting, I seem to catch on most mornings.

My big confession:  I think I’ve shared before that I pretty much always thought we are supposed to wear our pins on Wednesday when we meet. Did I think I wouldn’t be let in without a pin?  I don’t know.  However, the convention is to wear our pins whenever we want to in order to subtly remind ourselves of our Rotarian values and connect with others.  And to give ourselves one more thing to do before taking suits to the drycleaner.

So we’ll see how this goes, if it’s fun, and if we net some green for the good work of our Madison Rotary Foundation in the process – and if not, if we net some good for ourselves by using the pin to remind ourselves that we are Rotarians and all the good that stands for.