Well, our meeting this week was a memorable one with Jack Segal as our program speaker; but unfortunately, the newsletter reporting may not be so, or at least not in as positive of a way. This is because your dutiful scribe while adeptly focusing on introductory duties managed to misplace my notes taken during the meeting so what follows is being “accomplished” in a vague way by memory alone, which is guaranteed not to do anything resembling justice to the excellence of the information provided by our speaker.
So first of all my apologies without any such excuse as “the dog ate them”, or for my fellow cat lovers “the cat shredded them”, or “the pouring rain and wind blew them into the bay”; but without a doubt my getting-a-cold brain cells were somewhere else that day as I also managed to leave my shoes under the Dome coatrack after changing back to boots, and had to drive all the way back in the terrible weather from the Peninsula to retrieve them.
So to reminisce (meaning to indulge in enjoyable recollection of past events, which since I forgot them will have to suffice) Homer’s benediction of coming together in peace was musically augmented by Maurie Allen’s rendition of I’d Like to Teach the World to sing in Perfect Harmony. Dan Rickard introduced visiting Rotarians and guests, one of which was Jay Ruzak - a good thing he was there or Cindy might have forgotten even more.
Roy Pentilla let everyone know about the Rotary Foundation’s 2-for-1 deal of the month through February 28th, which is buy a 50/50 raffle ticket for $20 and then add to that $26.50 (clarified not to be $2650 by President Mike, although encouraged to be allowed by Paul LaPorte) which was the amount contributed to start up the Fund many, many years ago. If you buy this combination, you will be eligible for another drawing to win 1000 points toward a Paul Harris.
Other announcements included Sakura’s request for February 15th Career Day that is still looking for professions, even if they are friends that have more interesting jobs than you do. And the next super fun Rotary Social Committee event is next Thursday January 19th at 5pm at Amical for a $19.50 - 3 course dinner for which advance reservations are required via Kathy.
And Rotary Show Program Committee will be meeting this Saturday, and many more thereafter, at the Chamber building at 9am, all members are welcome to attend.
Lee Torrey won the 50/50 drawing and quickly realized that his winnings of almost $60 could contribute two of the $26.50 additional amounts requested for the Foundation.
Jack Segal’s resume reads something like a “Who’s Who” in government service primarily focused on high-level advisor positions involving Afghanistan, Russia and the Middle East. He and his wife Karen are co-chairs of the International Affairs Forum, whose next event is February 16
th, 6pm at Milliken Auditorium. The speaker is Humaira Wakili, an Afghan-American woman who has worked extensively in the Middle East talking about countering violent extremism.
And indeed much of Jack’s humor-filled speech centered around the idea of trying to understand the mindset of divergent cultures; whether that be in Israel, Russia, Afghanistan or the United States. What one culture of political beliefs sees as valuable, such as freedom of speech and other rights, may not be valued by another; thus in different cultures the same political system may not function in a similar manner and indeed be detrimental. Often when one regime has been toppled, the replacement regime ends up a dysfunctional, unsustainable mess. Which is why complete withdrawal after conflict has been difficult, as seen in Afghanistan where there are still 10,000 US troops on the ground after 17 years and the Taliban is making a resurgence.
So what can be done? In response to Marsha Smith’s question of whether providing economic assistance would help relieve post-conflict pressure, the answer was a qualified yes. The difficulty is that many of these countries have no means to support additional jobs; as in some Arab countries 60% of the population is under 40 years of age and 60% of those are unemployed.
In regard to Russia, but applicable to other countries, is to maintain the conversation. During the past 1 ½ years President Obama has not had dialogue with Russia’s Putin, which previously had been regular occurrences. In addition it helps to understand the purpose behind the posture, in this case that Putin’s actions are bravado in a weakening country. That for example it would not be in his best interests to invade and absorb Uzbekistan (meaning Russia would have to support the country financially) but merely to keep it divided in focus and thus subordinate to the demands of Russia.
So while there might never be a “world in perfect harmony” there is the Real Thing, it’s Rotary!
CURRENT CAREER – Investment & Private Banking for Huntington
The Board of Rotary Camps & Services regretfully accepted the resignation of Dave Millross at their meeting on January 17, 2017. Dave’s extended winter stay in Florida precluded him from full participation in the growing activities of Camps & Services. At the same meeting the C&S Board followed precedent and appointed the candidate from the September 2016 election with the next highest vote count, Dan Rickard. Dan will fill the unexpired term and serve until 2018, when he will be eligible for re-election. 
