Stories

AT THE GONG

It was a lightly attended session as President Elect Jeff Moss rang the bell in place of our missing Pres.  The thought for the day related about the fine students we interviewed for scholarships.

AT THE GONG

President Tony, ever alert, gonged us to order promptly at some time when the big hand was someplace and the little hand some other place (around 12:18 PM). Your scribe for the day asked the assembly to pledge our allegiance to Old Glory. Waxing philosophic, the assemblage heard the wisdom of 3 wise people:

“One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody everything every night before going to bed.” Bernard Baruch.

“Open your eyes look within. Are you satisfied with the life you’re living.” Bob Marley.

“Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.” Carl Sandburg.

The Future Vision Group met on April 16, 2013.  The group addressed meeting attendance (and a few other things).  As you may remember we have had some very low attendance rates at recent meetings (as low as 40%) and the group wanted to discuss ways to energize existing members so they attend meetings and to see what can be done to make meetings more attractive to new Rotarians.  Some of the suggestions were:

AT THE GONG –

Pres Tony waited patiently for more members to show up (at least that’s what he claimed) and finally dinged the meeting to order at 1225).  Yours truly led the Pledge and offered the following Thought for the Day – “You may easily play a joke on a man who likes to argue …simply agree with him” attributed to Edgar Howe, an American author.

The meeting resumed at 1240 (same excuse) with the introduction of Sheri Maier of RC Sausalito, our sole visiting Rotarian.  Christine Goodin introduced her guest, Renee Eisen.

The Big Bell:  

At precisely 12:15:30 President Tony rang the bell as there was no gong to be found anywhere.

Irv Schwartz led the assembled group in the pledge of allegiance to our flag.

He then followed with a though for the day: “Always give 100% except when donating blood.

AT THE GONG

President-Elect Jeff  Engstrom  (Jeff’s words, Prez Tony was away) hit the bell at 12:15 sharp. Dick Kuhn led the pledge and gave the thought for the day, which was to try something new to master and you will be the better for that effort.  Then we started our chicken Caesar and pasta luncheon accompanied by some good looking mini dessert options for those whose glycemic levels needed enhancement.

AT THE GONG

The meeting commenced with the ringing of the bell.

My thought for the day from Neil Lowndes,  How to Talk to Anyone:

“It’s wonderful to tell people you appreciate or love them. When it matches what they appreciate or love about themselves, the effect is overpowering.”

AT THE GONG

12:15:47 President Tony called the meeting to order.  After a three minute delay to retrieve the flag, yours truly led the pledge and gave a meaningless couple of sayings.

AT THE GONG:  

Tony kept his promise and started the meeting right at 12:15pm.  I led the Pledge and gave a few words from the Dalai Lama XIV…. There is a saying in Tibetan, "Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength no matter what sort of difficulties how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."

Items you may want to bid on:

AT THE GONG:

Pres Budd surprised the few present by whacking the bell precisely at 1215, a first for this Rotary Year.  Lee Page (standing in for Helmut Sommer) led the Pledge and offered the Thought for the Day ."Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second, when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied".  Author: Pearl Buck

AT THE GONG

President Jeff Engstrom started the meeting promptly at 12:17 pm.  The pledge was dramatically led by Tom Martz, who gave us the following words of wisdom from Ed O’Neil’s good friend Aristotle: Happiness depends upon ourselves. After that memorable quote the club members sat down and got back to their chow.

AT THE GONG

After the end of this Rotary year, President Jeff will be a perfect candidate to work for the Swiss time keeping system! He’s incredibly punctual! At exactly 12:15, President Jeff rang the bell and caught the attention of room bursting with energy! Once everyone assumed the pledging position, we paid respects to Old Glory.  

Budd Jones was kind enough to give President Jeff and me our very own copies of Cliff Dochterman’s book. The thought for the day (slightly modified) comes from that special book.  (Yes, I’ve already read the book cover to cover! Thank you,Budd!)

If our Rotary Club were to disappear tomorrow, would anyone miss it? If Rotary International were to disappear tomorrow, would anyone notice? The answer for Rotarians comes when we ask ourselves, “What have I done in the past six months to benefit our Rotary Club?” What has our Club done for our community in the past three months? What would become of our club if every member had done about as much as Jeff Moss (and all Club Presidents!) does? What would happen if no member invited a guest to become a new member? Rotary is a personal thing. If you take pride in our club, and give some of your personal time, thought, effort and energy then our club will be much stronger and more valuable to our community. Remember, YOU are Rotary.                                                Cliff  Dochterman—As I was Saying…

AT THE GONG

President Tony started the meeting promptly at 12:17 pm.  The pledge was led by Tom Martz, who left the following words of wisdom: Never trust Dick Kuhn to do set up for you! After that memorable quote the club members sat down and got back to their chow.

AT THE GONG

AT THE GONG

President Tony started the meeting promptly at 12:15.  The members were led in the pledge by yours truly, who then presented the audience with a short but sweet quote from Norman Vincent Peale of “Live your life and forget your age”.  It was the perfect quote for our club members as most of them forgot what was said by the time they sat back down and started eating.

AT THE GONG

President Tony followed his predecessor’s bad habits and started the meeting after 12:15 (12:20 to be exact). Yours truly lead the pledge and gave two quotations: “In charity there is no excess” by Francis Bacon—I then added about giving to The Rotary Foundation and items for our crab feed silent auction. The 2^nd quote was “Courage is doing what you’re afraid to do. There can be no courage unless you’re scared” by Eddie Rickenbacker. I reminded folks to have the courage to ask guests to our meetings and to our crab feed.