Ojai is a very special place, because the human spirit is evident in much that we do. Below is the invocation given by Rotary member Rob Long at Tuesday, November 24, 2015 Rotary Club of Ojai West meeting. I am so proud to call Ojai home and be a member of Rotary.
— PDG Jack McClenahan, Rotary Club of Ojai West

Even as the black pall descends on the City of Light, let us, as Rotarians, resist the urge to gnash our teeth and join in the clamor for revenge. Instead, let us draw on our celebration of the end of polio to remind us what we, united in Rotary, are capable of accomplishing.
 
Think of terror as another unthinking, unfeeling disease, randomly killing and maiming innocent victims around the world, just like the scourge that was polio. Let us be resolute that, just as we did in ridding the world of polio, Rotary can make a difference and help stamp out terror, too.
 
From small community projects, like our own Club's project to benefit seniors in need, to Rotary International's Areas of Focus which include not only promoting peace in general, but specifically include a global mission to educate even the poorest teenage girl, without regard to what religion she was born into, immunizing her baby, and bringing clean water to her village in the remotest corner of Earth, Rotary is a vaccine against terror.
 
Thanks to Polio Plus NID's over the past 30 years, Rotary already has "boots on the ground," silently crossing political boundaries without headlines, knocking on every door until it is opened to us to deliver our new "medicine:" replacing ignorance with knowledge, fear with trust and hatred with love.
 
Though as individuals we are overwhelmed at such a challenge, by linking hands with our fellow Rotarians around the world, we will continue to be a beacon, shining a light that pierces the darkness, bringing hope where there is despair, until terror, like polio, becomes a thing of the past.