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Service, Service, Service
Posted: 11 months ago
For the last two years (and next year too), I have completed a monthly, 72-hour board eMeeting with a summation, A Newsletter, to RGHF's 300 plus members and posted it on the forum for the 800 plus visitors to our website almost daily (at least, with over one million per year). It is an important part of our communications with Rotarians who care deeply about Rotary Global History (and to me, my reaching out with ideas that the 35 members of our board over five continents, in different time zones and different cultures have arrived at through discussion, comments and finally voting). Therefore, I have decided to share these Newsletters with our eClub members and our visitors to RECSWUSA because many of the concepts and actions are those that impact any virtual Rotary organization which uses the Internet as its means of communication. Here is my March Newsletter:
Service, Service, Service and More Service. That is what kept ringing across the landscape of my mind as I woke this morning, one day after our 72-hour Marc h eMeeting where your Board set up plans and procedure for the future, took care of needed planning in the present and added ingredients to our system so that it might work better all the time. In my close up view, it was a marvelous, historic eMeeting. Thirty-one of our thirty-five board members came together to vote on seven motions (and the three others- two who were hospitalize and one on the road away from the Internet- signed in), which means that 97% of our board signed in about attending or not.You will find that I love stories so I started our March eMeeting with a Middle Eastern proverb: A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Historically, across this globe, Rotarians have sung their song, Service beyond Self.
Your RGHF leadership came together with their song of service through Rotary Global History (and answers too through current actions and, of course, past service). Twenty-three of our 2008-2009 board has served as District Governors or a Director of Rotary International, while all have been Presidents and other officers of local clubs, chairman of businesses and non-profit organizations or leaders creating their own unique enterprises (just like YOU, our members).
On six important motions, your board voted unanimous, affirmative support for:
1) Two years ahead, we should nominate someone to have charge of arrangements for Conventions:
2) In the event of any officer being unable through illness or any other factor to fulfill their duties for a significant length of time, a deputy be appointed by the administrator/President;
3) Agreement on the 4:30 award ceremony with PRIP Wilf Wilkinson (pending confirmation from past RIBI president Peter Offer, with liaison by his friend Tim Tucker);
4) Nomination of RIPN Ray Klinginsmith, and Greg Barlow (our member of the month for April) for the 1905 Society, plus the addition of the incoming RIBI president David Fowler :
5) That RGHF should not enter into providing history components to senior RI leadership or the secretariat, but rather support RI Rotary History & Archives to provide that service (The rationale for this motion was: This is the purpose of the RI archives and the new Rotary History department. We can support RI, but let them be the providers):
6) Re-affirm that only Joe Kagle and Dick McKay are authorized to represent RGHF at RI’s senior level (other players may contact RI i.e. archives, fellowship reps, etc, but only Joe and Dick officially represent us with The Secretariat or presiding officers.)
Not to stand still on our accomplishments of passing six motions and beginning a discussion of how we could find and retain new members while we planned to set up our double Rotary Global History booth at the Convention, we passed another Motion late in this March session 7 (which passed just before midnight last night with 18 yes votes out of the 30 attending): 7) Elect the RI Archivist (presently Stephanie Giordano) as an ex officio member of the RGHF board. The first archivist, Laura Mills, participated in the very early days of the project.
Finally, we honor RGHF secretary Norm Winterbottom, New Zealand as our member of the month www.rghfforum.org sign in then read, and comment to Ray and other postings.
As a matter of pride, I have found in this body of dedicated Rotarians (who make up our Board for RGHF) a special, select group of individuals who are leaders who do not leave their skills hidden or unused and that is a joy to serve with them. So lastly, to end this report on our eMeeting, I give YOU ALL a story that was not used in the last 72-hours. I saved it for this ending for my newsletter: [to be found at the end of the letter]
I am reminded of another story that was told by the comedian Milton Berle: I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are. But isn’t that the essence of what Rotary Global History Fellowship is all about, telling the stories of the past and present so that we can live a life of service, knowing that we know our way since we met those coming back from where we wish to go?
Joe Kagle
President/Chairman, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010; Member: Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA and President-elect for 2010-2011
This report is also posted on the forum www.rghfforum.org
Abdullah was one of the richest men in town, but you could easily mistake him for a beggar. It was his theory that since there was so many people out to rob a rich man; it was safe to pretend to be poor. And so he did. But he really didn’t have to pretend. Stingy to the core he found it very easy to be poor. People snickered and children called out, Kanjoos! Kanjoos! (miser, miser), whenever he passed by in his worn-out clothes? Abdullah became more and more content with his growing pile of money as the years went by. One day, he bought a huge lump of gold with all the money he had amassed. He dug a hole in the ground near an unused well and buried the gold there. He was sure that no thief would be able to find that place. With this happy thought, Abdullah checked on his treasure daily. But can you really keep a hiding place hidden if you looked at it every day? Before long, the town was whispering about Abdullah's mysterious visits to the unused well in the dead of the night. It wasn't long before a curious soul discovered the gold, let out a yell of joy and ran away with the miser's treasure. Naturally, on his next visit, Abdullah found the hole empty. He began howling with grief and soon a crowd had assembled. They watched him grieve the way people mourn the loss of a dear one. Finally, a neighbor came forward and asked him to stop it. You want your gold? Just pick up a heavy stone and drop it in the hole. Pretend it is the gold you lost. How you can make fun of me at a time like this, wailed the stricken man. I'm not making fun of you, friend! Said the wise neighbor. How did you use the gold while it was here, except gaze at it every day? You could do the same with a stone. Abdullah was silenced.’ In the 19th century, Romantic poets such as Coleridge and Shelley believed that inspiration came to a creative individual because he was attuned to divine or mystical winds of history or change. I believe that it is because any individual has a song to sing. THIS MARCH YOUR BOARD SANG AS A CHORUS.
Posted: 11 months ago
For the last two years (and next year too), I have completed a monthly, 72-hour board eMeeting with a summation, A Newsletter, to RGHF's 300 plus members and posted it on the forum for the 800 plus visitors to our website almost daily (at least, with over one million per year). It is an important part of our communications with Rotarians who care deeply about Rotary Global History (and to me, my reaching out with ideas that the 35 members of our board over five continents, in different time zones and different cultures have arrived at through discussion, comments and finally voting). Therefore, I have decided to share these Newsletters with our eClub members and our visitors to RECSWUSA because many of the concepts and actions are those that impact any virtual Rotary organization which uses the Internet as its means of communication. Here is my March Newsletter:
Service, Service, Service and More Service. That is what kept ringing across the landscape of my mind as I woke this morning, one day after our 72-hour Marc h eMeeting where your Board set up plans and procedure for the future, took care of needed planning in the present and added ingredients to our system so that it might work better all the time. In my close up view, it was a marvelous, historic eMeeting. Thirty-one of our thirty-five board members came together to vote on seven motions (and the three others- two who were hospitalize and one on the road away from the Internet- signed in), which means that 97% of our board signed in about attending or not.You will find that I love stories so I started our March eMeeting with a Middle Eastern proverb: A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song. Historically, across this globe, Rotarians have sung their song, Service beyond Self.
Your RGHF leadership came together with their song of service through Rotary Global History (and answers too through current actions and, of course, past service). Twenty-three of our 2008-2009 board has served as District Governors or a Director of Rotary International, while all have been Presidents and other officers of local clubs, chairman of businesses and non-profit organizations or leaders creating their own unique enterprises (just like YOU, our members).
On six important motions, your board voted unanimous, affirmative support for:
1) Two years ahead, we should nominate someone to have charge of arrangements for Conventions:
2) In the event of any officer being unable through illness or any other factor to fulfill their duties for a significant length of time, a deputy be appointed by the administrator/President;
3) Agreement on the 4:30 award ceremony with PRIP Wilf Wilkinson (pending confirmation from past RIBI president Peter Offer, with liaison by his friend Tim Tucker);
4) Nomination of RIPN Ray Klinginsmith, and Greg Barlow (our member of the month for April) for the 1905 Society, plus the addition of the incoming RIBI president David Fowler :
5) That RGHF should not enter into providing history components to senior RI leadership or the secretariat, but rather support RI Rotary History & Archives to provide that service (The rationale for this motion was: This is the purpose of the RI archives and the new Rotary History department. We can support RI, but let them be the providers):
6) Re-affirm that only Joe Kagle and Dick McKay are authorized to represent RGHF at RI’s senior level (other players may contact RI i.e. archives, fellowship reps, etc, but only Joe and Dick officially represent us with The Secretariat or presiding officers.)
Not to stand still on our accomplishments of passing six motions and beginning a discussion of how we could find and retain new members while we planned to set up our double Rotary Global History booth at the Convention, we passed another Motion late in this March session 7 (which passed just before midnight last night with 18 yes votes out of the 30 attending): 7) Elect the RI Archivist (presently Stephanie Giordano) as an ex officio member of the RGHF board. The first archivist, Laura Mills, participated in the very early days of the project.
Finally, we honor RGHF secretary Norm Winterbottom, New Zealand as our member of the month www.rghfforum.org sign in then read, and comment to Ray and other postings.
As a matter of pride, I have found in this body of dedicated Rotarians (who make up our Board for RGHF) a special, select group of individuals who are leaders who do not leave their skills hidden or unused and that is a joy to serve with them. So lastly, to end this report on our eMeeting, I give YOU ALL a story that was not used in the last 72-hours. I saved it for this ending for my newsletter: [to be found at the end of the letter]
I am reminded of another story that was told by the comedian Milton Berle: I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been, by far; for a might have-been has never been, but a has was once an are. But isn’t that the essence of what Rotary Global History Fellowship is all about, telling the stories of the past and present so that we can live a life of service, knowing that we know our way since we met those coming back from where we wish to go?
Joe Kagle
President/Chairman, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010; Member: Rotary eClub of the Southwest, USA and President-elect for 2010-2011
This report is also posted on the forum www.rghfforum.org
Abdullah was one of the richest men in town, but you could easily mistake him for a beggar. It was his theory that since there was so many people out to rob a rich man; it was safe to pretend to be poor. And so he did. But he really didn’t have to pretend. Stingy to the core he found it very easy to be poor. People snickered and children called out, Kanjoos! Kanjoos! (miser, miser), whenever he passed by in his worn-out clothes? Abdullah became more and more content with his growing pile of money as the years went by. One day, he bought a huge lump of gold with all the money he had amassed. He dug a hole in the ground near an unused well and buried the gold there. He was sure that no thief would be able to find that place. With this happy thought, Abdullah checked on his treasure daily. But can you really keep a hiding place hidden if you looked at it every day? Before long, the town was whispering about Abdullah's mysterious visits to the unused well in the dead of the night. It wasn't long before a curious soul discovered the gold, let out a yell of joy and ran away with the miser's treasure. Naturally, on his next visit, Abdullah found the hole empty. He began howling with grief and soon a crowd had assembled. They watched him grieve the way people mourn the loss of a dear one. Finally, a neighbor came forward and asked him to stop it. You want your gold? Just pick up a heavy stone and drop it in the hole. Pretend it is the gold you lost. How you can make fun of me at a time like this, wailed the stricken man. I'm not making fun of you, friend! Said the wise neighbor. How did you use the gold while it was here, except gaze at it every day? You could do the same with a stone. Abdullah was silenced.’ In the 19th century, Romantic poets such as Coleridge and Shelley believed that inspiration came to a creative individual because he was attuned to divine or mystical winds of history or change. I believe that it is because any individual has a song to sing. THIS MARCH YOUR BOARD SANG AS A CHORUS.
Posted: 11 months ago
I will like to receive more of ur stories.
Posted: 10 months ago
For the last two years (and next year too), I have completed a monthly, 72-hour board eMeeting with a summation, A Newsletter, to RGHF's 386 members and posted it on the forum for the 800 plus visitors to our website almost daily (at least, with over one million per year). It is an important part of our communications with Rotarians who care deeply about Rotary Global History (and to me, my reaching out with ideas that the 37 members of our board over five continents, in different time zones and different cultures have arrived at through discussion, comments and finally voting). Therefore, I have decided to share these Newsletters with our eClub members and our visitors to RECSWUSA because many of the concepts and actions are those that impact any virtual Rotary organization which uses the Internet as its means of communication. Here is my April Newsletter:
Last year at this time, I started my April Member's Newsletter saying, ”April is an interesting month” and what I meant then was that the season of moving from winter to spring is refreshing with ‘newness' happening all around.
Right now, a year later, Rotary Global History Fellowship, while still serving its mission to YOU and Rotarians the world over by finding, researching, recording and, at times, evaluating the global history that we all discover and share, is enjoying an internal 'newness' that is refreshing and challenging.
It is a 'newness' that comes with adapting to the speed and needs of the 2Ist century; it is the 'newness' of an expansion of our 12-person board to 37 voting members (with nine on the Executive Committee, four at-large and two Emeritus: Dick McKay, USA and PDG Eddie Blender, USA (this growth reflects the newness of our global vision) with your 24 zone, representatives (with six to be added later); and it is the 'newness' of just growing as Rotarians learn the worth of our product (membership is now at 286 as compared to 76 in 2006) .
The 'newness' of Spring is a sweet breath of change; this 'newness' with RGHF is our challenge of change. We all know that any organization that tries to stay the same as the world moves forward under its feet is bound to stumble and not deliver its mission for existence.
So how do we move into this new future, this new 'newness'? As a global Rotary history fellowship, we learn from those who have walked this journey in the past, inside and outside of Rotary.
We go to the Renaissance: “The first method of estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.” - Niccolo Machiavelli. We find the best and brightest with the most experience to help us lead. We do not lead by the few but by embracing the many: “We should not only use all the brains we have, but all that we can borrow.” - President Woodrow Wilson. We find challenges that ignite our passions for reaching our impossible mission: to record all Global Rotary History with style and accuracy: “The first thing you do is teach the person to feel that the vision is very important and nearly impossible. That draws out the drive in the winner.” - Edwin Land. And lastly, we realize that the mission of RGHF is a collective mission of all Rotarians: “To achieve all that is possible, we must attempt the impossible. To be all we can be, we must dream of being more. To reach our dreams, we must reach out to others.” - John C. Maxwell.
So this April we plan for the future, by looking to our past for guidance and we celebrate our successes, knowing full well that any time you reach a plateau of excellence, it is the starting base for the next moment's efforts. You might ask: What has been accomplished lately?
Membership has grown over 350% since 2006. Under the leadership of Frank Longoria, USA, and with the help of many hands and hearts in our zones of service, membership has increased and continues to increase. But for the next step in the process, we need to know more, contact others more and plan more for how we stay in contact with each member (giving the individualize service that each culture needs, that each individual Rotarian needs).
This year, we have two booths to help promote and exhibit Rotary Global History (with our Fellowship leading the way and partnering with other history fellowships and RI Archives to promote more interest in Rotary Global History). We need members to assist with the booth in Birmingham.
Three of our board members will lead the way in Birmingham: Calum Thomson, Scotland; Tim Tucker and Basil Lewis, UK. As a team, they have been helping to plan our Saturday, June 20th at 4:30 pm awards ceremony where we will feature and honor PRIP Wilf Wilkinson as our speaker, plus RIPN Ray Klinginsmith and RIBI PE David Fowler as new honorees into the 1905 Society.
We hope that you plan to attend and bring a friend to find out about this special Fellowship. Let us know if you are coming (it is free to members and $10 non members).
With the 'newness' of Spring comes new clothes; therefore with RGHF's 'newness' comes a new look to our website (created by Jack Selway, USA; Zhema Mesa, Dominican Republic; Greg Barlow, Malaysia; and Pietro Brunoldi, Italy). View it at www.rghf.org Also with Spring 'newness' comes also a new Member of the Month, PDG Ian Campbell, Scotland.
Bea Arthur, who recently died at the age of 86, said in her one-person Broadway show of her life: “Don't miss the chance to sing.” In our RGHF 'newness', don't miss the chance to celebrate our success, our plans and our opportunities in Birmingham to honor others while we sing the praises of Rotary global history, past and present.
Yours in Global Rotary History without borders,
Joe Kagle
President/Chairman, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010
Posted: 9 months ago
For the last two years (and next year too), I have completed a monthly, 72-hour board eMeeting with a summation, A Newsletter, to RGHF's 386 members and posted it on the forum for the 800 plus visitors to our website almost daily (at least, with over one million per year). It is an important part of our communications with Rotarians who care deeply about Rotary Global History (and to me, my reaching out with ideas that the 37 members of our board over five continents, in different time zones and different cultures have arrived at through discussion, comments and finally voting). Therefore, I have decided to share these Newsletters with our eClub members and our visitors to RECSWUSA because many of the concepts and actions are those that impact any virtual Rotary organization which uses the Internet as its means of communication. Here is my May Newsletter:
Dear RGHF Member: Every year 2.4 million pages of RGHF are viewed by Rotarians seeking a road map to the future by exploring what Rotarians have done in the past. The mission of Rotary Global History Fellowship is simple, to serve Rotarians by seeking out the events of Rotary history, the stories of successes and failures by Rotarian in spreading the service of Rotary to the world, raising funds that are used in service project that expand Rotary’s reach and commitment to service and showing an accurate record of Rotarians in fellowship, peace and goodwill. This will be the story that is told at our booth in the Hall of Friendship at the RI Birmingham Convention. You can help. We are asking members who will be attending to assist Calum Thomson, Tim Tucker and Basil Lewis by volunteering to man the RGHF booth and tell others about our history quest so that they might consider membership. We have now over 300 members but our Fellowship must expand as we see more areas where history has not been found or the local Rotarians have not helped RGHF and RI’s Archives to record their history and their leaders. We invite all attendees at the Birmingham Convention to attend our annual awards event. Time: 4:30 PM Saturday 20 June. Place: House of Friendship Hospitality Area. RGHF member & PRIP Wilf Wilkinson will be greeting you and presenting awards to RI’s President Nominee Ray Klinginsmith, USA; and RIBI’s President Elect David Fowler, UK. We ask that Rotarians and guests please RSVP to this mailing, Selway@selway.org, or send a message at www.historycomment.org so that we can plan for this event. There will be a small donation requested for refreshments.
As I said, we are a Rotary Global History fellowship where the pursuit of Rotary global history is our passion. What is difficult is to keep the technology alive so that the history is not dead history but vibrant, living history (even when the events happened in the past). This struggle to keep technology human and alive is a battle that has been waged for over one hundred and fifty years.
Is it not surprising how history (even literary history) is a mirror for where we live each day in the modern world. As I walk our streets today, I (we all) see individuals walking around blind to their surroundings, listening to something plugged into their ear or talking to an invisible personage somewhere removed from this place and our view. Even Rotarians can get caught up in the technology until they give service and expand their vision. When I returned home and answer over 100 emails from people who I will never meet face to face, discussing subjects that only exist in virtual space. I compare my best self to Rotarians in history, then, now and building tomorrow, who attempted to walk a similar path.
It was at this point that literary history met current history. In a flash, I truly understood Jonathan Swift’s classic, Gulliver’s Travels, Part Three, A Voyage to Laputa (see note at the end of this newsletter), the place in the sky where science and technology had created a life style that had nothing to do with the world that surrounded them. It was the visual creation of Mary Shelley’s idea in the 19th century where science takes the world apart and when it is put back together it can never resemblance the world we knew or understood. Technology can tear down the Berlin Wall (by letting information to permeate a society and change it forever) plus open our minds to places where we have never gone but it also can be a barrier to seeing what we touch, feel, smell, embrace or love. It is this negative aspect that all Rotarians must work against, while still using the technology of today to enhance our knowledge and the speed which we can learn. Technology must be used as a tool to learn more, not a block to our learning about our world. Technology is like the wheels on an automobile. It gets us from ‘here’ to ‘there’ faster than our two legs can move. Swift saw this in Gulliver’s voyage to Luputa, the science and mathematics world centered in the clouds and warring against the real world below. It was the first aerial assault in modern literature. It was the first discussion of a world removed from seeing the ‘real world’. It was an image that I learned at Dartmouth College, but never understood fully until I joined Rotary Global History Fellowship. It was ‘a work of literature’ that is a ‘reality’ today.
Rotary Global History Fellowship sees the world torn in this manner today. Our website is updated all the time as it continues growing to a worldclass size by our dedicated webmasters, Rotary Global History is championed by Rotarians across the globe in local communities and at the RI Convention. Therefore, we ask you, our members who are attending this June Convention, to help to man the booth when you are not attending meetings, sell the concept of Rotary global history as a tool to move into the future and as a rationale for giving funds to the Foundation, and asking others, when you meet them, to consider joining our Fellowship and sharing their history of their clubs, districts or regions of the world.
Visit the booth, volunteer to man the booth, attend the celebration and the giving of honors to special Rotarians, and wear your RGHF pin with pride, telling all the importance of Rotary global history, “To Know Is To Grow.” Tell everyone at the Convention that our Member of the Month is Frank Longoria and if you want a speaker at one of your club meetings, RGHF members make excellent choices. Also tell all that you meet that we elected our leadership team for 2010 at our May eMeeting.
Yours in Rotary Global History without boundaries and borders,
Joe
Joe Kagle, Chairman/President, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010Note: A Voyage to Laputa, August 5, 1706 — April 16, 1710: After Gulliver's ship is attacked by pirates, he is marooned near a desolate rocky island, near India. Fortunately he is rescued by the flying island of Laputa, a kingdom devoted to the arts of music and mathematics but utterly unable to use these for practical ends. The device described simply as The Engine is possibly the first literary description in history of something resembling a computer. Laputa's method of throwing rocks at rebellious surface cities also seems the first time that aerial bombardment was conceived as a method of warfare. While there, he tours the country as the guest of a low-ranking courtier and sees the ruin brought about by blind pursuit of science without practical results in a satire on the Royal Society and its experiments. He travels to a magician's dwelling and discusses history with the ghosts of historical figures, the most obvious restatement of the "ancients versus moderns" theme in the book. He also encounters the struldbrugs, unfortunates who are immortal and very, very old. Gulliver is then taken to Balnibarbi to await a Dutch trader who can take him on to Japan.The trip is otherwise reasonably free of incident and Gulliver returns home, determined to stay there for the rest of his days.
Posted: 9 months ago
For the last two years (and next year too), I have completed a monthly, 72-hour board eMeeting with a summation, A Newsletter, to RGHF's 386 members and posted it on the forum for the 800 plus visitors to our website almost daily (at least, with over one million per year). It is an important part of our communications with Rotarians who care deeply about Rotary Global History (and to me, my reaching out with ideas that the 37 members of our board over five continents, in different time zones and different cultures have arrived at through discussion, comments and finally voting). Therefore, I have decided to share these Newsletters with our eClub members and our visitors to RECSWUSA because many of the concepts and actions are those that impact any virtual Rotary organization which uses the Internet as its means of communication. Here is my June Convention Newsletter:
RGHF President’s June Newsletter for the Birmingham Convention:
Dear RGHF member:
Those of you who are going to Birmingham to the Convention have an opportunity which many of the rest of us (there are now over 300 members in RGHF) will miss but be there in spirit. The reasons for missing are many: financial, time, other commitments to our local society, illness within our families, but at least our collective spirit will be there to witness:
1) Our booth #853 where history will be king (we need your help there) and
2) Our activities on Saturday, June 20, 4:30 when we (through the hands of PRIP Wilf Wilkinson in the House of Friendship Hospitality Room) give two new Rotary Global History Grants www.rghf.org/grants to The Paul and Jean Harris Home Foundation and The Paul Harris Memorial Walkway and two 1905 Society Awards to RIPN Ray Klinginsmith and RIBI President Elect David Fowler. www.1905society.org (Both are also new RGHF members)
When RGHF acts for the betterment of Rotary and Rotary Global History, we do so decisively. When the Board Members of RGHF voted to give grants this year, it was a dynamic action. They affirmed that once a direction is set, we move boldly forward. We know our mission. We support our mission. We accomplish our mission.
I, who cannot be at the Convention because of illness in our family, ask each of you who will have that privilege to help history at our booth (#853), attend the special celebration on June 20th at 4:30, and tell all that you contact about the joy that comes when Rotary Global History is known, shared, and spread around. History makes the present and future grow, because as all you know: To know is to grow. In May, 32,000 Rotarians also knew this when they used our website to search out possible solutions to difficult questions through an exploration of Rotary global history.
Yours in Rotary Global History without borders or boundaries for all Rotarians,
Joe Kagle, Chairman/President, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010
Posted: 8 months ago
Here is my July newsletter to members, following our 72 hour eMeeting at the end of June:
Dear Fellow RGHF Members:
Like many other Rotarians in this special time in the world, I could not go to Birmingham (health and finances), but I could live in the Internet glory of adventure that those who went shared with us all. We are all adventurers through Rotary global history. We have come far and now see more visionary service journeys in the space of the future.
One cannot view the gains that Rotary Global History Fellowship has made in the last nine years without thinking of a Star Trek phrase, “…to boldly go where no man has gone before…”, in our collecting, researching and publishing Rotary Global history. We celebrate those who give service and “explore strange new worlds”, those Rotarians who have helped to forward the mission, fellowship and goodwill of Rotary. So…next time that you hear this said, “Space... the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before;” think of what our mission has been for the last nine years. If you haven’t noticed, it peaked again in Birmingham, England.
As one who wonders where phrases and quotes come from, I looked into some beginnings for that phrase “…to go where no man has gone before”. It has been speculated that the quote was taken from a White House booklet published in 1958. The Introduction to Outer Space, produced in an effort to garner support for a national space program in the wake of the Sputnik flight, read on its first page: “The first of these factors is the compelling urge of man to explore and to discover, the thrust of curiosity that leads men to try to go where no one has gone before. Most of the surface of the earth has now been explored and men now turn on the exploration of outer space as their next objective.” Similar quotes have been used in literature prior to 1958. For example, H. P. Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, written in 1927 and published in 1943, includes this passage: “…Carter resolved to go with bold entreaty whither no man had gone before, and dare the icy deserts through the dark to where unknown Kadath, veiled in cloud and crowned with unimagined stars, holds secret and nocturnal the onyx castle of the Great Ones.”
And next year in Montreal, we celebrate ten years of Rotary Global history service, going “boldly where no man has gone before.” Therefore, in the Convention that just passed, we are honoring those who serve RGHF with dedication and skill, our Members of the Month for July: Calum Thomson, Scotland; Tim Tucker, UK; Basil Lewis, UK; Matts Ingemanson, USA; and Prakash Saraswat, India. Together, they added our special Rotary global history contribution to a great convention.
As Calum reports: “… a great team performance. Tim ran the whole show wonderfully - his enthusiasm is untouchable. Basil hounded everyone to take an interest in Rotary's rich history and Matts hounded senior leaders with the unwavering phrase "you should join our fellowship". Getting RI President John Kenny was a big bonus. He talked about Rotary's 104 year history and Paul Harris today when he addressed the convention. In many ways, John wants us all to get back to our old values that Paul Harris planted so many years ago - they are as relevant today as ever.”
All was not perfect with RGHF at the Convention (when you make bold actions, you do not always get perfection), as was reported by those who manned our booth in the House of Friendship: “The booth seemed consistently busy without ever being rushed - we need more volunteers to 'man' the booth as its unfair to expect a few to hang around there all day.The reception went well in terms of publicity/photos/impact. Sound was a big problem but that was simply because the reception area was not 'fit for purpose' I would certainly prefer a reception again to a breakfast if the choice arises in the future.” Still, all that attended that adventure said that it was a success for RGHF and RI.
And as I said, we are already beginning to plan for Montreal in 2010 where our Fellowship will celebrate its 10th anniversary of service to Rotarians (and it will be the 100 year of Canada’s service to Rotary). What an opportunity to “boldly go where no man has gone before”. That is one Convention I will not miss. How is this for an idea? This year in Birmingham, we gave two grants of $1000 for history organizations and their projects. In Montreal, we push for $10,000 for our 10 years of service to our fellow Rotarians. All we need is YOU, our members, to get other Rotarians to join RGHF and spread the word on the importance to local clubs and individual Rotarians to place their names on our subscriber’s list to receive our feature each month. How about a membership of 1000 (we now have 319)?
At our last eMeeting in June, closing last Sunday, after 72 hours of voting and discussion, we collectively thanked those who have served this year, our retiring Board members PDG Bill Mulkey and Claudia Beatrice Simo Velàsquez: welcomed new members to the Board: PDG Jose Augusto Mella, Dominican Republic, RC of Santo Domingo Colonial, District: 4060, Zone: 21 and DGE Douglas Ross Maymon (2009/10) USA, RC of Weston, District 6990, Zone 34; thanked senior historian Basil Lewis, UK RC of Humberside D1270, zone 17 who served as Co-Chair of history, and now returns to his long-time position of Senior Historian; and congratulated Prakash Saraswat, India, who will serve on the 2009-2010 Executive Board (replacing Basil Lewis), and began coordinating a new (for RGHF) communication tool, www.historyfacebook.org. The Internet is our space adventure for the mission of RGHF.
Instead of going to ‘seek out new life and new civilizations’, our Fellowship ‘seeks out undiscovered Rotary global history and new Rotary heroes’, plus finding innovative services to the world by those who ‘go boldly where no man has gone before’. The Internet is our space, our final frontier. Therefore, begin to plan today for next year’s Convention in Montreal where we celebrate our bold adventure (up to this juncture). We can give out new grants to other history organizations (again) who only need a small lift in their service to Rotary history. We will join hands together with fellow Rotary history lovers, manning our booth, sharing stories from our locales of influence, and laughing about how we are part of “Space…the Final Frontier”. We will continue to fill the Internet with the deeds of Rotarians from the past, present and glimpses of the future (and that we done in just nine year, moving into ten).
Yours in Rotary Global history without borders, boundaries or frontiers in space,
Joe
Joe Kagle, Chairman/President, Rotary Global History Fellowship, 2007-2010