Lion Barry speaks about life's dash

“We’ve all been to the cemetery and seen the dates on a tombstone. It starts with the birth year and then there is the year the person died. In between these two dates is a dash,” said Barry Ross, Cambridge Lions Club secretary to the members. “What is important is how you live the life that the dash represents.” Ross presented a slide show based on a book entitled “The Dash” by Linda Ellis and Mac Anderson. The book is based on Ellis’s poem with that same title. Ellis was inspired to write the poem in 1996. Ross read sections of the poem, “what mattered most of all was the dash between those years… now only those who loved her know what that dash is worth… What matters is… how we spend those years.” “What matters to us here today, is how we spend our dash,” said Ross. “As Lions we choose to spend part of our dash helping those in need by helping to provide funds for the diabetes support group and by helping with eye care and vision needs. That’s why we have our fund raising events.”