President Dave Maxwell reminded board members that this month’s board meeting has been moved to Wednesday, April 27 at Sue Aubin’s office.
Janelle Weismann, the Rotary Peace Scholar that SHRC supported a number of years ago, wrote to thank the club for its donation to the fundraiser cycling trip through SE Asia in support of the UN Women’s organization. Thanks in part to our contribution, Janelle raised $5,400.
Nancy Jones called herself the “Snow Queen” since so many of the social events of the past year have been affected by the weather. The social to has been rescheduled to May 7. She will start passing around sign-up sheets for the new time next week.
PP Joe Hughes described the annual SH Golf Tournament as a great vehicle to begin the great work our club does in supporting kids in our community. PP Mark Johnson, the treasurer for the golf committee emphasized the role the Foundation plays in Special Things For Special Kids and our scholarship program. He asked that as you approach people to play in the tournament, make sure their checks are made out to the Smoky Hill Rotary Foundation (not the Club). Also, be sure to include all of the golfers’ names with their registration. PP Joe then announced that he and Cindy were bringing the first golf registration and would be supporting the tournament at the Silver Level.
PDG Talee Crowe reminded everyone that Ronald McDonald House event will be this Wednesday at 4:15. We will be serving a Mexican food casserole. She still needs 2 more people, so if you can help out, give Talee a call.
PP Al Horton announced that the next Habitat For Humanity work day will be May 14. He has 6 signed up, but would like a couple more. All you need to bring is a water bottle and a lunch. Everything else you will need will be provided
Invocation-PP Betsy Jansen delivered the invocation Monday. She pointed out that this is Child Abuse Prevention Week. She sported a pinwheel, the symbol of the cause. Betsy support a non-profit who works with parents who have abused their children. Often, they were abused themselves and merely see their response as in line with what they know about parenting and discipline.
Our speaker Monday was Lily Tang Williams, Libertarian candidate for the Senate for Colorado. Lily was born in western China during the heyday of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. That experience molded her views on the necessity for individual freedom in the face of governmental overreaching. Some highlights of her presentation were:
As a child, she grew up very poor, going to the state controlled school in here area. At 7, she learned the harsh lesson of conformity to the wishes of the state when a teacher reprimanded her for taking too much pride in her school accomplishments. The priority of the teaching staff was to insure loyalty to the state. Mao’s book for quotations was required reading in all schools.
The Cultural Revolution was designed to break down all sense of privacy for individuals. Each person from childhood on had a government file covering all aspects of their lives. All property was owned by the state as well.
On Mao’s death, suddenly the state reversed itself and declared that much of the Cultural Revolution had been a mistake, causing much dismay among the people. Nevertheless, state control of all aspects of live remained the priority.
At a young age, she was given a state test (all children had to take it) which determined whether you would be allowed to go on to additional education and eventually to college. She passed the test and went to college to study law. She hoped that she could help turn China into a state governed by the law for the benefit of the people. She was told that the law was a tool to be used by the state to control the people. Disillusioned, she joined some of the student protests. In college, she met an American student who exposed her to the Declaration of Independence, a revelation that profoundly affected the rest of her life.
After graduation, she became a part of the faculty, but the state pressure on her only increased. All of her lectures were subject to prior state approval. She started looking at other options for her life outside of China. After an arduous process, she obtained a passport and visa and came to the US. She came to the U of Texas in Austin. She met her future husband, an American and Libertarian where she learned to question everything that the government did. She obtained her US citizenship in 1995.
She wants to bring her experience under the repression of China to the US to show what can happen when control slips from the hands of the people into the hands of the state.
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