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Rotary Odyssey: 2007 RI Convention in Salt Lake City
20070625-RGHF at Salt Lake City.pdf (also in Chinese by
PDG
Dr. Dens W. L. Shao,
RC of Taipei.)
When Odysseus left Ithaca to fight the Trojans, he entrusted
Mentor, a good friend, with his home, lands and wealth. His son was but a
boy who had to grow up without the wisdom of his father (but at least he
received the love of his mother and the oversight of Athena). On the way
home, Odysseus put out the one eye of the Cyclops who was the son of
Poseidon and that doomed him to twenty years of roaming the seas before he
could make land again in Greece. Athena used the disguise of Mentor to
advise and stand beside her beloved Odysseus. When this gray-eyed goddess
wished the Athenians to know that their king was again with them, she sent
Rumor around to disperse the information.
Anyone who journeyed to Salt Lake City for the Rotary
International Convention must have felt that they were returning home with
their own kind. Fellowship was the norm, not the exception, at this
convention. Also, anyone looking around knew that this was truly a global
community that had journeyed here and assembled. Odysseus has many forms and
colors; Mentor was present and Rumor was running around telling tales and
the “truth” disguised as rumor.
For me and Anne, it was but an instant of recognition that
passed between our assembly when we first encountered old friends that we
had never met face to face. We laughed, drank, ate, conversed, and worked
together but also we traded adventure stories, bits and pieces of our lives
that overlapped with theirs and shared a closeness that is not just rare,
but empowering. Of course, we all worked, babysitting the meeting place,
“the booth,” and telling the world that strolled by about our “virtual, real
Club,” Rotary Global History and “fellowship” of Rotarians. It was a gathering of
adventurers and pioneers of all ages who knew how to work and play and share
and serve. Of course, we discussed those services that we gave, thought a
lot about how they might grow and expand, and spun tales about the different
journeys of life that lead us all to this point in space and time. The
Rotary International programs were wonderfully constructed and instructive
but it was the comradeship, the fellowship and the goodwill that shone from
each face, each spirit. Instead of leaving Mentor in charge of what we left
behind, mentors were all around us and within each of us. One night one lead
the way; another it was another comrade, even when the journey was to dark
beer, light conversation and heavy thoughts. Time was filled with laughter
and togetherness. Like Odysseus, we felt at some special moment that we were
home.
On returning, we all, I am sure, left the tiredness fall away
in the comfort of our “homes” but the memory of friends newly regained was
still clear and close. We had magically journeyed from our “home” to a “new
home” back to our original “home”. We found how life is a circle in our
Odyssey, our travels. Next time, we meet the new adventures will be told and
shared and fellowship will shine as brightly as it did in Salt Lake City. Of
that, I am sure.
For those who we all know over the internet (our 21st
century way of letter writing) who did not make this odyssey, there is
always a new adventure (Los Angeles in 2008). I would not miss it. Will you?
Joe Kagle
President/Chairman, RGHF, 2007-2008
Member: Rotary E-Club of the SW. USA
Professor of Art and Art History, Kingwood College, Texas |
