President's Letter - Adirondac Magazine, January 2006
A Letter from the President (of the Adirondack Mountain Club)
Recently, I stood at the grave of Robert Frost--a childhood hero of mine--and could hear his voice as he recited: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by.” These words have been my mantra. I view the world as full of opportunity, hope, and renewal. People, places, and institutions are important cornerstones in fulfilling our needs as human beings and help to actualize our beliefs. For me, ADK and its members play an important role. As members of this wonderful organization, we travel a road that is fundamentally different than that which is followed by the mainstream. We are passionate, involved, and vibrant. We accept challenge, seize opportunity, and rebuff failure.
As I gratefully accept the challenge of leading ADK as its president, I look to opportunities, hopes, and the renewal of our club. I think about the road we will travel, knowing full well we will come to forks. I am prepared to make the tough decisions--with the collaboration of your board and executive committee—that will take this club to a stronger, healthier place.
I was recently brought to a place that gave me the opportunity to reflect on my life and my values and what was most important to me. One night, as I started to speak, my mouth wouldn’t cooperate with my brain and my words came out slurred. Many months, tests, and doctors later, I learned I had a new challenge in my life: myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that affects voluntary muscles. The most obvious of the implications for my life is my need to restrict vigorous physical activity. When I think that only days before the onset of the symptoms of this disease I had climbed to the top of Mount Colden in full winter gear, I am chilled. What a profound change in my reality!
Growing up in New York City, with a city-born father and a mother from Newfoundland, my summers were filled both with cooling off in the shower from an open fire hydrant on a city street and with climbing rocky hills and exploring remote wilderness. I have learned this is a unique duality, and I cherish it. These experiences helped to firm my resolve to live a life of balance, tolerance, and appreciation for diversity. ADK and its members embrace the same values.
Remembering back to a cold, windy January day in 1961--and a defining
moment in my life--I can see Robert Frost, his white hair blowing, reading a poem from his life’s work at President Kennedy’s inauguration. Shortly after, Kennedy took the podium and implored a refreshed America to “ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” I come to you, as your newly inaugurated president, to implore you to ask what you can do for your ADK.
I am asking you to identify your talents, enumerate them, and use them to help your organization become the best it can be, so that it can thrive to provide trails “less traveled by” for our children, and for their children. My children were practically raised on the shores of Heart Lake and their values were forged on the fires of the ADK ethic. It’s my time to give back to the organization that has given so much to me, and I ask you to join me in that effort.
I have appointed my trusted colleague, Keith Martin, to head up a working group assigned with exploring innovation. Virginia Etu, our hardworking administrative assistant, and I were talking one day and she said we need to “just get it done.” This phrase will characterize my tenure. With the suggestions generated by Keith’s working group and the commitment to “just get it done,” we will achieve substantial goals.
Something YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW: send us your contact information and a list of your skills, so that we can tap those skills to help make a bright future for ADK a reality. You will be repaid in untold gifts that you will treasure for a lifetime. Trust me, I know.
--Curt Miller
Recently, I stood at the grave of Robert Frost--a childhood hero of mine--and could hear his voice as he recited: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by.” These words have been my mantra. I view the world as full of opportunity, hope, and renewal. People, places, and institutions are important cornerstones in fulfilling our needs as human beings and help to actualize our beliefs. For me, ADK and its members play an important role. As members of this wonderful organization, we travel a road that is fundamentally different than that which is followed by the mainstream. We are passionate, involved, and vibrant. We accept challenge, seize opportunity, and rebuff failure.
As I gratefully accept the challenge of leading ADK as its president, I look to opportunities, hopes, and the renewal of our club. I think about the road we will travel, knowing full well we will come to forks. I am prepared to make the tough decisions--with the collaboration of your board and executive committee—that will take this club to a stronger, healthier place.
I was recently brought to a place that gave me the opportunity to reflect on my life and my values and what was most important to me. One night, as I started to speak, my mouth wouldn’t cooperate with my brain and my words came out slurred. Many months, tests, and doctors later, I learned I had a new challenge in my life: myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease that affects voluntary muscles. The most obvious of the implications for my life is my need to restrict vigorous physical activity. When I think that only days before the onset of the symptoms of this disease I had climbed to the top of Mount Colden in full winter gear, I am chilled. What a profound change in my reality!
Growing up in New York City, with a city-born father and a mother from Newfoundland, my summers were filled both with cooling off in the shower from an open fire hydrant on a city street and with climbing rocky hills and exploring remote wilderness. I have learned this is a unique duality, and I cherish it. These experiences helped to firm my resolve to live a life of balance, tolerance, and appreciation for diversity. ADK and its members embrace the same values.
Remembering back to a cold, windy January day in 1961--and a defining
moment in my life--I can see Robert Frost, his white hair blowing, reading a poem from his life’s work at President Kennedy’s inauguration. Shortly after, Kennedy took the podium and implored a refreshed America to “ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.” I come to you, as your newly inaugurated president, to implore you to ask what you can do for your ADK.
I am asking you to identify your talents, enumerate them, and use them to help your organization become the best it can be, so that it can thrive to provide trails “less traveled by” for our children, and for their children. My children were practically raised on the shores of Heart Lake and their values were forged on the fires of the ADK ethic. It’s my time to give back to the organization that has given so much to me, and I ask you to join me in that effort.
I have appointed my trusted colleague, Keith Martin, to head up a working group assigned with exploring innovation. Virginia Etu, our hardworking administrative assistant, and I were talking one day and she said we need to “just get it done.” This phrase will characterize my tenure. With the suggestions generated by Keith’s working group and the commitment to “just get it done,” we will achieve substantial goals.
Something YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW: send us your contact information and a list of your skills, so that we can tap those skills to help make a bright future for ADK a reality. You will be repaid in untold gifts that you will treasure for a lifetime. Trust me, I know.
--Curt Miller
posted by Curt Miller at 1:02 PM
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