By By Adam Prestridge
The Atmore Rotary Club's Fiddler's Convention held Saturday was a huge success to say the least.
More than 600 bluegrass fans filed into the Escambia County High School auditorium eager to hear musicians entertain them with their amazing abilities to make their strings sing. They came expecting a good show, but what they received was a great one.
Rotarian Keith Castleberry should be commended by not only his fellow Rotarians, but by the people of Atmore for all the hard work he puts into this string music competition each year. As a fellow Rotarian, I believe that Castleberry has certainly displayed the object of Rotary, which is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise.
Keith has certainly brought new meaning to the Rotary Club's motto, "Service Above Self." Over the years, he has put his service with the Atmore Rotary Club above himself and his family each year when it's time for the Fiddler's Convention. Keith was at the school early Saturday to make sure everything was ready for the big show and stayed late until the last fiddler had played his last note.
But I am a firm believer that having good people working for you or with you makes you that much more successful. This is the case with the Fiddler's Convention. Even though Castleberry served as the event coordinator, he had a lot of great help from his fellow Rotarians, who also stayed throughout the day and night to ensure that the event was a success.
During the Fiddler's Convention and now as I write this column, it made me think of The Four-Way Test that we recite following our weekly Rotary meeting.
According to the Rotary International website, from the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One of the world's most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The Four-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as Rotary International president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.
This 24-word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than 100 languages and published in thousands of ways. It asks the following four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:
Many students throughout the area will benefit from the Fiddler's Convention proceeds, which gives them the opportunity for additional college funding.
In looking back to Saturday's event, I am confident that Atmore's Rotarians are truly benefiting from The Four-Way test as well.
Adam Prestridge is publisher of The Atmore Advance. He can be reached at at 368-2123.