Issue link: http://maconmagazine.uberflip.com/i/495532
6 | MACON MAGAZINE APRIL/MAY 2015 W hen he introduced the International theme, Light Up Rotary, the president of Rotary quoted Confucius, "To put the world in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order…we must first set our hearts right." Many of us may wish to change the world, but I doubt that any of us can walk out and change it tomorrow. Fixing the world has to start with fixing broken families. Fixing the world has to start with fixing individual hearts. Fixing the world has to start with the light of truth. I was a child who pulled the legs off of insects and the wings of butterflies simply to watch their helpless agony. I was a child who lied for the sole satisfaction of lying. I was a child who couldn't put up the silverware without an almost uncontrollable desire to stab myself. I was a child who threw such horrible temper tantrums my parents thought I was demon possessed. I wasn't supposed to live. I was supposed to be aborted because of China's one child policy. Instead, my mother left me outside an orphanage where I spent 10 months before I was adopted. I guess it's not surprising how I felt. Why didn't my mother want me? What was wrong with me? Then the nannies and my country sent me miles across the ocean like spoiled merchandise. What had I done to be considered worthless? As protection, I shut my emotions into a box of hate and anger and callousness. So you didn't want me. I wasn't good enough. You just wait. I'll survive and make you suffer like you made me. I grew up in a Christian home hearing about God, but what had He ever done for me? I decided to fix myself and my problems without His help. I tried, I failed, and I gave up until the day, light dawned, and I saw the truth: I was broken, helpless and in need of the salvation that Jesus Christ could bring. God dramatically changed my life. My heart was changed by the truth, and that is where changing the world has to begin. Because once truth lights an individual heart, light can spread to bond broken families. According to the American Sociological Association, "Half of all children [in the United States] will witness the breakup of a parent's marriage. Of these, close to half will also see the breakup of a parent's second marriage." Despite the commonality of broken homes, common doesn't change the horrific effects to the children of the homes. Like me, people coming from broken homes often struggle with psychological disorders, suicidal thoughts, intense anger, drugs and alcoholism. Eighty percent of long-term inmates and juvenile criminals came from broken homes. Ladies and Gentlemen, these broken children are my generation -- the generation of young people who will make tomorrow's world. The future seems full of darkness and hopelessness. But the good news - the great news - is Jesus Christ came and died and rose again to bring hope and light. You are never too far gone from his light and life-changing power. In Rotary or beyond by sharing that light, we can fix broken families, and we can change the world one heart at a time. ONE HEART AT A TIME Editorial by Lia Fike Illustration by Erika Burks 2015 marked the first year of the First Place scholarship award being named in memory of Austin Childers. Austin was diagnosed with a rare disease when he was 14 that became debilitating. As many in Macon know, he had a huge heart and wanted to share hope and faith with as many people as he could. He believed that public speaking could help him reach many people with his message, and help change the world. It is this faith, hope, and love, and his belief in the power of public speaking that exemplifies what the Rotary Speech Competition is all about, and why the three Rotary Clubs of Macon have chosen to honor him with the naming of the Austin Childers Memorial Scholarship. Lia Fike is the winner of this year's speech contest and the scholarship.