Our guest speaker, Erez Avramov, delivered a deeply moving and thought-provoking presentation on the theme of unshakable resilience:

Erez began by challenging us to rethink the very definition of resilience. While many people instinctively associate it with toughness, grit, and pushing through hardship, he encouraged us to consider a different perspective: resilience as a balance of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual strength. More than sheer force, resilience can be about vulnerability, honesty, and the ability to recover and grow stronger after life’s challenges.

His life story illustrates this perspective. Erez served as an elite Air Force commander in Israel, where he first learned the traditional model of resilience—discipline, endurance, and never giving up. But his real understanding came later, shaped by personal trials that tested him to the core. In 2011, he survived a devastating car crash on the Coquihalla Highway that left him with catastrophic injuries. Doctors gave him only a 1% chance of survival. After months of surgeries and relentless pain, he made the courageous decision to amputate his leg below the knee—a choice that ultimately gave him back his independence.

Even then, the journey was not over. He battled phantom limb pain, learning to rewire his brain through meditation and visualization, something his naturally skeptical mind had once dismissed. He proved to himself that resilience isn’t just about endurance, but also about adaptability and inner clarity. Later, he pursued extreme goals—like training as the first amputee to compete in the gruelling Dakar Rally—only to learn that external achievements mean little without internal alignment.

Perhaps his most humbling test came when he suffered a heart attack. Unlike broken bones or amputation, this invisible threat brought him to his lowest point of despair and self-doubt. And yet, once again, he chose to view the experience not as an ending but as an invitation to transformation.

Throughout his talk, Erez used powerful metaphors to illustrate his message. He compared resilience to tempered glass—something fragile that, when exposed to intense heat, emerges stronger than before. He also shared the Japanese art of kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold, creating an object more valuable and beautiful for having been broken. In the same way, he reminded us that our struggles and scars can be transformed into sources of strength and purpose.

Erez concluded by inviting members to reflect on their own lives: What challenges have shaped you? What inner tools helped you through? He emphasized that resilience is not a fixed trait but a process we can cultivate—one that enables us to recover more quickly, grow more deeply, and ultimately live more truthfully.

His message resonates strongly with Rotary’s values of service, integrity, and fellowship. Just as resilience is built by turning hardship into strength, so too does Rotary transform challenges into opportunities for growth and positive impact in our communities and beyond.
 

The meeting was adjourned with a toast by President Joan Posivy: 

" To Resilience"