How to be an optimist -- or not

In about 1975,  I was living in a small town in North Dakota, working at a twice-weekly newspaper, my first job after college. Some young entrepreneurs in town wanted to start a local chapter of the Optimists. It’s an international organization that works primarily on projects for children and local communities, plus I have always considered myself an optimist. They needed a certain number of people, I think like 30,  to sign up to get a charter, so my friend Marilyn and I said, sure, count us in. Word came back from the home office: Sorry, no women. The two guys trying to organize the local group said, hey, we’ll fight this if you want. I said, no, I don’t want to keep you from doing the good work. Build playgrounds and stuff. Don’t get distracted. I’ll pick my fight on something else. (And you know I did!) Their loss.

A few years later, when there was a big hoo-haw about Rotary Clubs, etc. and women members, I wrote a column in the newspaper at my later job, a slightly bigger small town in Minnesota. And what I said then, I stick with: If you need good works done, don’t turn away anyone who wants to do the good works. Because that’s not just discriminatory, it’s stupid. Your loss.

In 2016,  and actually much sooner than that, the Optimists, the Rotary Club, and a ton of formerly boys-only-he-man-women-haters organizations welcome women. I think they figured it out.

 Now, let’s get the nation to understand that it’s true of every gender, every race, every religion, every gender identification, every sexual orientation. You want the best people to get the job done? Invite everybody. Or it’s your loss.