September 11th: Club Board Meeting 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm in the Civic Room at the Northbrook Public Library.
September 17th: Dinner Meeting at Granite City Food & Brewery. Join us for an evening meeting beginning at 6:00 pm at Granite City Food & Brewery. More details and RSVP information to follow.
September 18th: NO Noon Meeting
September 29th: Blood Drive at Sunset Foods
October 10th: Club Board Meeting 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm in the Pollack Room A at the Northbrook Public Library.
October 20th: One Rotary Summit Fall Training Day. 7:30 am - 12:00 pm at Harper College Wojcik Center. Click here for more information.
October 24th: World Polio Day
October 26th: Rotary 800
November 10th: 2018 Youth Assembly. 9:00 am - 3:30 pm, Forest View Education Center, 2121 S. Goebbert Road, Arlington Heights. Click here for more information.
Travel as a Force for Peace by Rick Steves (from The Rotarian)
It was 1969, I was 14 years old, and one night my dad came home and said, “Son, we’re going to Norway to see the relatives.” I thought, “Stupid idea.”
A few days after arriving, I was sitting on the carpet with my cousins in Bergen watching Neil Armstrong on TV as he took “et lite skritt for et menneske ... one giant leap for mankind.” It occurred to me that this was more than an American celebration. It was a human one.
Without my realizing it, travel was broadening my perspective. While reinforcing how thankful I was to be an American, it was also making me a better citizen of the planet. It was shaping the 14-year-old me to be a force for peace and an advocate for the importance of travel.
Since 1975, I’ve spent four months a year in Europe. I’m a travel teacher. And for the first decade of my career, my focus was budget tips. I wrote Europe Through the Back Door, which taught travelers how to get a good meal affordably, how to find a charming local guesthouse, how to pack light, and how to enjoy the sights. Then I became interested in teaching people about the art and history of Europe. I wrote Europe 101 to encourage travelers to connect with culture in a deeper register.
But since 9/11, I’ve realized that my mission is about more than saving money or visiting museums. Travel can also be a force for peace – but that depends upon how you travel and where. If you travel thoughtfully, travel can become a political act. Ever since that epiphany, my goal has been to inspire and equip Americans to come home from their travels with the most valuable souvenir: empathy for the other 96 percent of humanity. And that teaching led me to write Travel as a Political Act.
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