Guy Reams (00:00.718)
Today is day 180. Do you have a pledge? So there was a time in our society when being part of a one club or another was just something you did. You can still see remnants of this. I mean, I'm sure that you have a rotary club in your local town. If you drive around your neighborhood or or little your local city, you'll probably see signs of the rotary club or one club or another.
You might even have an Elks Lodge somewhere in your area or a Freemasons group or you'll see a bit. They have a building or something like that. So those clubs are still very active, but they're just not as common as they were. The average age of the members of this have gone up and up over the years. And it seems the younger populations are not as interested in club memberships as they were back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. When I was growing up, I was often a guest attendee to one of these.
because a relative or a family member would take me. And so I've been to Quanus, Rotary, Shriners, Odd Fellows, Rebecca's, Freemasons, Elk Club, Toastmasters, you name it. I've been to several of them. Probably lots I've forgotten. Now, we have professional organizations nowadays and networking groups, but this is not the same thing. These clubs were designed to create a sense of community and obligation.
where we come together and serve a common cause, share the same values, so to speak. Now, I do remember one thing about these clubs growing up is they would always have some emphasis on repeating a common value statement or repeating a pledge that all the members would take. So every time you would meet, they would always say the Pledge of Allegiance, and then you would, to the United States flag, and then they would say another pledge.
or recite a value statement. I think the Rotary Club would repeat the four -way test, basically four questions they would ask themselves to determine if what they were doing was valuable, a valuable contribution to their society. Others, like the Elks Club, would have a ritual that everybody would perform to greet each other or whatever to remind them of who they were. Regardless of the method, all of these clubs have a way
Guy Reams (02:26.702)
to remind people of their pledge, their commitment as a member. It seems like we don't take pledges that often anymore. I mean, I think we do. I mean, to become a member of a professional organization like the Bar, you have to swear in or take an oath. I think from time to time, we might have to say the Pledge of Allegiance, although I just don't think we do that much anymore. If you become a member of a fraternity or a sorority,
you have to say a pledge to become part of it. So I think there is a little bit of this going on, but not as much as it used to be. So I think that the concept of a pledge is still pretty important. I'm not going to, you know, so I started reflecting on that. I was reflecting on that this morning. A friend of mine posted a very touching article about the older Calvin.
discovering his Hobbs doll in his attic, stuffed animal Hobbs in the attic, and reflecting on his life through this interaction he had with his long recovered friend Hobbs. So this hit me really hard. So I decided I would go up in my attic and see if I could find my stuffed animal. And sure enough, I did. I found Ranger Rick. Here's Ranger Rick. Say hello, Ranger Rick. So I found Ranger Rick up in my attic. And Ranger Rick and I had a conversation.
about my childhood and about a pledge I took. Now I remember I would get the Ricky Raccoon or Ranger Rick magazine once a month. I think my great aunt would send me these. She subscribed me to the Ranger Rick nature magazine. So I would get the magazine and I would read them every time they came. I was so excited to get my Ranger Rick magazine.
I remember in the front cover of one of these magazines was a pledge and I took this pledge really seriously and you would sign the pledge with your name on it. It had a little place for you to sign your name. So the Ranger Rick pledge was I give my pledge as a member of Ranger Rick's Nature Club to use my eyes to see the beauty of all outdoors, to train my mind to learn the importance of nature, to use my hands to help protect our soil, water, woods and wildlife.
Guy Reams (04:49.23)
and by my good example to show others how to respect, properly use, and enjoy our natural resources. So this was a big commitment for me to write my name down on the Ranger Rick Nature Club Pledge. This was the first time that I had made a personal commitment of my own at a very young age to become a member of the Ranger Rick Nature Club and to keep this very important commitment.
This got me to thinking this morning as I remembered that pledge. Thanks to Ranger Rick for reminding me of my original pledge. By the way, I think I've kept that pledge. I do. I revisit the woods very frequently and I try to take people with me every time I go and I try to teach people about nature and about what the beauty of it that has to offer us and to always be respectful of nature. So I think I have kept my pledge, right? Right, Ranger Rick? So I think I've kept my pledge.
Anyway, so this reminded me of the important importance and impact that a pledge can have on you. But I think the most important pledge is one that you author on your own. Can you create a pledge that exemplifies the commitments, the virtues, the values that you wish to keep sacred in your life, to represent as who you are? This is a powerful concept that I think we should all implement. If you haven't done so already, I would
I think you should create your own pledge. Write down a pledge and you can keep it private to just you. I mean, I have my own and I keep it very private. It's my pledge. So I would say I would write that pledge down and this is something you can repeat to yourself every day or maybe once a week. Repeat your pledge and keep in and stay on top of it and keep committed to it. So I know in the Ranger Rick magazines when I read them as a child, the pledge was the was on the front cover, the front inside cover of every magazine.
And so I think you can do the same. You can create your own pledge and repeat it to yourself frequently and often. Thank you.