Editor's note: Typically, only ARRL members get to read the "It Seems to Us ..." editorials that run each month in QST. We're posting this editorial by ARRL Executive Vice President David Sumner, K1ZZ, that appears in the March 2003 issue of QST in the hope that both ARRL members and nonmembers might appreciate it and find it informative.

Every meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors covers a myriad of topics ranging from weighty long-range issues to matters of esoteric detail. As is true during any meeting, the energy level in the room goes through peaks and valleys. A routine presentation on one subject may be followed by an emotionally charged debate on another--and once in a while something happens that makes everyone in the room glad to be there.

The 48 people who were in the Board Meeting room on Friday morning, January 17, will long remember six minutes of President Jim Haynie's report as the undisputed high point of the meeting. Jim, W5JBP, unveiled a project he had been working on for several months with volunteers and staff. During his visits on Capitol Hill, Jim had been frustrated that his "leave-behind" material was not more effective in continuing to sell Amateur Radio after the visit. Award-winning television producer Dave Bell, W6AQ, agreed to accept the task of telling Amateur Radio's public service communications story in a few memorable minutes of video that could be put on a CD and distributed on the Hill and to other non-amateur audiences. With assistance from Bill Baker, W1BKR, arrangements were made for Walter Cronkite, KB2GSD, to provide the narration.

Simply put, the results are stunning. The principal focus of the video, called Amateur Radio Today, is on last summer's Hayman Fire in Colorado and the support provided by radio amateurs to the firefighters and other personnel. That riveting story is put in context with amateurs' responses to other disasters, including the World Trade Center attacks. Walter Cronkite, who became KB2GSD in order to have back-up communications from his sailboat, concludes by noting that Amateur Radio is probably the only fail-safe communications system in the world.

Today's Amateur Radio is multi-faceted and cannot be fully described in just six minutes. Amateur Radio Today concentrates on those aspects that are likely to be immediately understood by non-amateurs: providing public service communication and communication between students and the astronauts on board the International Space Station. But although we amateurs aren't the intended audience, any amateur who sees the video will feel great pride in belonging to the community of volunteers that makes these wonderful things happen.

Much has been written in recent years about the growing tendency for Americans not to belong. Increasingly, the landscape of American society is dotted with isolated islands of family and close friends. The memberships of traditional organizations are aging and shrinking. We define ourselves less and less through our voluntary associations with others. Belonging to a group that is greater than ourselves helps make life worth living. More and more, as a society and as individuals, we are missing out.

We can correct that, but let's be honest with ourselves. It takes more than a piece of paper with a call sign on it to make us a part of Amateur Radio's public service team. That's too passive. Belonging requires action. It takes commitment. It takes training.

A good place to start is with ARRL membership, an action you probably have
already taken if you are reading these words. If you have not already made the commitment of becoming a volunteer in the ARRL Field Organization, read Dave Hassler's article beginning on page 50 of this issue. The title, The ARRL Field Organization: Something for Everyone, says it all.

If you act soon the third step, training, won't cost you anything but your time thanks to the grant to the ARRL from the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). This federal grant to enhance homeland security already has funded the certification of hundreds of amateurs through the ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Course. As a result, the Amateur Radio community is better prepared than ever to heed the call whenever and wherever a natural disaster or other catastrophe may strike. The significance of the grant should not be lost on any of us. It is tangible evidence that the federal government sees us as partners in the effort to ensure the security of our nation and its citizens.

By the time this issue is in print, Amateur Radio Today should be widely available for use in promoting Amateur Radio to non-amateur audiences throughout the country and the world. Find a copy and take the six minutes to watch it. (Check the ARRL Web site for the latest news on availability.) You will swell with pride as you watch and hear one of the most respected and recognized Americans of all time extol the virtues of Amateur Radio, which means so much to all of us.

But don't stop there. As you watch the sailboat in the closing scene, imagine that it represents Amateur Radio and think about where you are on the screen. Are you helping trim the sails? Are you helping maintain a steady hand on the tiller? Or are you out of sight beneath the surface, a barnacle perhaps, not impeding progress very much but just along for the ride while others do the work?

Amateur Radio has been given an incredible billing. Now we must live up to it.

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