Meeting of September 23

Rotary Meeting of September 23, 2014 - Reported by Tom Croft

Last week of Youth Services Month

The meeting was opened on time by Samantha Lloyd (left) and Julia Philips (right); Samantha provided an interesting opening with welcoming us aboard flight 731 from Prince George to Victoria; she was corrected by Julia who reminded her that she was at the Oak Bay Rotary Club.  The flight was smooth after the correction.

William Shatner led us in the reciting of "Oh Canada" and it was a pleasure to see him on the screen.  Sandy Curry recited Grace and Sam and Julia granted themselves first position in food line-up!

After lunch, Julia informed us that she had been told by Jim that the lunch would be Mexican; Sam assured Julia,” that this is NATCHO your club”.

Visiting Rotarians; Samantha Lloyd and Julia Philips Rotaractors and MC's today; Lisa Collins, President Victoria Harbourside - Law/Wealth Planning; Peter Davey, Past President Glastonbury & Street Club, UK - Marketing

Visitor:  Kathleen Arnason, guest of Jim Force.

Health of the Club Mary Canty: Batya and David ARE still in Israel with their son who is not well; Mary read a letter from them.  David Philips is having some more treatments.

Sabrina and Janna with the banner from the Rotary Club close to Tricia's
Primary School alma mater, Mitchelton, Brisbane, Queensland.

Announcements:  Jim Force exchanged a banner with Peter Davey from England. Peter provided some comment on his club of 25.  Club in a Pub this week; Paul Harris Awards Oct 2; NO MEETING NEXT WEEK - there is still time/room to register for  Thursday's night Paul Harris Award Night.

There is a District proposal to have only an annual motto "Service Above Self" with no Presidents' annual theme.  A discussion of the motion ensued; of the members present, 21 voted in favour of the motion and 4 against.  The results will be sent to the District.

Celebrations Master; Perry Bamji, began by promoting the optional black tie Paul Harris Award Dinner.  People talking during his promotional moment were fined; he fined the Rotaractor for her bad joke. Tom and Jill Croft's 42nd anniversary; Ron Beyer and his wife are celebrating their 30th anniversary.

Happy bucks: Tav immigrated 50 years ago today; Mary had  life cycles pick 160 lbs from her grape arbour; Jim and Lynne regarding the Roosevelt series on PBS and the Polio connection; Jessica - party on Sunday; Jana missing apples - apparently life cycles got them.

Eugen

John Jordan introduced Eugen and his wife Iris.  Eugen is our guest speaker today. He was professor at Ryerson for 30 years, and sometimes found at the pulpit of local churches.  He spoke today on the Classics. Here it is in its entirety.

Cicero Quotes on Aging

Introduction

The reason I am giving this talk today dates back to last January.

Past-President Peter Lawrie introduced Rotary Awareness Month with a pep talk on increasing member participation in club activities.

The Board, he said, had set a goal of 100% engagement from the membership;

and then he floated this slogan adapted from the John Kennedy era:

Don’t forget to ask yourself, what you can do for Rotary.

So I asked myself. What else, besides Roster duties, could I possibly do that would be of interest to club members?

I looked around this room. I noted many of us were seniors.

Why not share with them my excitement about Cicero’s Essay on Aging.

There are many active members who are decades younger, but I had found Cicero’s insights very energizing and gloom-dispelling; maybe the old philosopher has some good tips for the modern day for all of us.

So I let Bob Schelle know, if he ever needs a speaker, I’d be happy to step in.

So here we are today. 

I’ve called my talk, “Quotes from Cicero on Old Age.”

 Some background on Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero lived in Rome during the first century, BC, from 106 B.C. to 43 B.C.

He was an highly acclaimed philosopher, politician, lawyer, and orator, who published more than 100 of his writings, speeches, letters and books.

His essay “On Old Age,” was written the year before his death at 63 years of age.

The essay has received universal recognition for its clarity, humaneness, and its vitality for the inevitability of aging.

This positivism led the French philosopher, Montaigne, to quip, “He gives one an appetite for growing old.”

In today’s talk, I will read two-score of my favourite quotes from the essay, in roughly the order they appear in the text.

Cicero needs no commentary; he speaks for himself.

(1)        What I shall try to compose for you--as well as for myself--is a consolation for this prospect of old age.

            I have so greatly enjoyed its composition that the task has rid me of any thought of the irritations which age shall bring, and has even made the condition seem agreeable and attractive.

(2)        I regard nature as the best guide: I follow and obey her as a divine being.

            Now since she has planned all the earlier divisions of our lives excellently, she is not likely to make a bad playwright’s mistake of skimping the last act.

            And a last act was inevitable. There had to be a time of withering, of readiness to fall, like the ripeness which comes to the fruits of the trees and of the earth.

            Life’s course is invariable—nature has one path only, and you cannot travel along it more than once.

            Every age has its own characteristics: boys are feeble, youths in their prime are aggressive, middle-aged men are dignified, old people are mature.

            All things in keeping with nature must be classified as good; and nothing is so completely in keeping with nature than that the old should die.

           

            In the same way as apples, while green, can only be picked by force, but after ripening to maturity fall off by themselves, so death comes to the young with violence but to old people when the time is ripe.

            And the thought of this ripeness so greatly attracts me that as I approach death, I feel like a man nearing harbour after a long voyage: I seem to be catching sight of land.

(3)        But surely there are occupations fitted for old men’s minds and brains even when their bodies are infirm.

            Some people never stop learning, however old they are.

            That is what I have been doing, too!

            In my later years I have learnt to read Greek. I have fastened upon this study with the greed of a man trying to satisfy a long-endured thirst.

            So old age, you see, far from being sluggish and feeble, is really very lively, and perpetually active, and still busy with the pursuits of earlier years.

           

            What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of a            man who instructs the rising generation.

(4)       We ought to feel very grateful to old age for removing the desire for sensual pleasures.        

            For sensual feelings cloud a man’s judgment, obstruct his reasoning capacity, and blind his intelligence: let sensuality be present, and a good life becomes impossible.

(5)        Now I come to the pleasures of farming. These give me an unbelievable amount of enjoyment.

            Old age does not impede them in the least, and in my view they come closest of all things to a life of true wisdom.

            Cornfields, meadows, vineyards, woods, all give added pleasure to the         cultivator’s life.

            And so do orchards, cattle-pastures, bees in their swarms, and flowers in their infinite variety.

            Planting, too, is a delight, and so is agriculture’s most ingenious operation, grafting.

            Personally I incline to the opinion that no life could be happier than the farmer’s.

            To begin with, the services which he performs by his cultivation of the soil are beneficial to the entire human race.

            If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.

           

(6)        For our human souls have come into our bodies from heaven: they have been sent down from their lofty abode and plunged, so to speak, into the earth, which is alien to their divine and eternal nature.

            But what nature gives us is a place to dwell in temporarily, not one to make our own.

            When I leave life, therefore, I shall feel as if I am leaving a hostel rather than

            a home.

            What a great day it will be when I set out to join that divine assemblage and concourse of souls, and depart from the confusion and corruption of this world!

            I shall be going to meet not only all those of whom I have spoken, but also my own son. He should have cremated my body; but I had to cremate his.

            There are two alternatives: either death completely destroys human souls, in which case it is negligible; or it removes the soul to some place of eternal life--in which case it is greatly to be desired.

            Even if I am mistaken in my belief that the soul is immortal, I make the             mistake gladly, for the belief makes me happy, and is one which as long as I live I want to retain.

(7)        When life’s last act, old age, has become wearisome,

            when we have had enough, the time has come to go.

            That is what I think about old age.

            Old age: the crown of life, our play’s last act.

             

I conclude with a quote on Old Age from a Guatemalan who had observed one of our members, Mary Canty, (92), climb a mountain in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

Mary herself told us the story from this podium last month.

"Mary Canty,” he said to her. “I have watched you. You have changed my life. After meeting you I will never be afraid to grow old."

Bravo, Mary!

Bravo to everyone!

May you live to see the condition!

Eugen was thanked by Don O'Coffey

Additional quotes from Cicero:

The foolishness of old age does not characterize the old, only the foolish.

No one is so old as to think they cannot live another year.

Where there’s life, there is hope.

I have never heard of an old man forgetting where he has buried his money.

Old people remember what interests them.

I am so fond of conversation that I even enjoy afternoon parties.

Brevity is the best recommendation of speech,

whether in a senator or an orator -- or a Rotarian!

Our MC’s closed with a tribute to the Queen by the Kinks, called "Gloria". What a great meeting and Youth Services Month.