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KINGSPARK NEWS Club Number: 30119 2005-06 Rotary Year : Issue 18 : 19 March | ||
| This
is the biweekly bulletin of the Rotary Club of Kingspark Hong Kong Club Website: http://www.rotary3450.org/kingspark-hongkong | ||
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| Chief
Editor : Francis Wann Club Webmaster : John Wan | ||
| Editorial
(Is
Rotary an Illusion?) - By Francis Wann | ||
| District Website | RI Website | RI President | TRF | News Room | Global History Fellowship | ||
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Is Rotary An Illusion?
But what exactly do we believe? Going through the Rotary First 100 can be inspiring, but to some, the rhetoric seems too good to be true. Is it all simply old hat? The four-way test is supposed to be the most rigorous test of our integrity, but clearly not all Rotarians agree. At least not for the uninitiated. We are facing a real identity crisis of sorts. Over the century, the nature of Rotary must have changed a lot. We wish to remain exclusive, but we're crying out for new members. We want to help the less fortunate, but we're often confused in our priorities. If you're new to the Rotary family, it might take you a while to understand and familiarise yourself with the complexity of its culture. But even if you're a veteran, a club president, an area or regional president, or district governor, there's still so much to learn to live up to the name and expectations of Rotary. In time, you learn about the rank and file, about the various titles, about the many committees, action committees, subcommittees, ad hocs, and taskforces. And of course you learn about fellowship, fellowship, and more fellowship. Then there are the various competitions - club level, district level. From bridge to mahjong, and from photography to sports. All come under the name Rotary. There must be tens and thousands of other dedicated men and women out there using their own time and money to help others. They could be doing exactly the same thing, and believing in what we believe. The only difference is that they are not Rotarians. Not yet, that is. How do we judge our Rotary-worthiness? How do we expound the virtues of Rotary and influence others? It would be of paramount importance that we believe we can make changes. Not with our money, but our will perhaps. I remember when Forbes named tycoon Li Ka-sing Asia's wealthiest man some time ago, he claimed wealth for him was only an illusion. And what an illusion it is... But the human sufferings we witness every day, the social injustice we see, and the poverty around us are real, and are the reasons why we are here. While some of us might still be trying to understand the hidden wisdom of our founder Paul Harris and other towering figures, we should also remind ourselves that every effort we make, every dollar we give, goes to a noble cause. And that is no illusion. | ||
President's
Column
Encouraged by our CP John Wan who is also the District Rotary Foundation Chair, our club, the Rotary Club of Kingspark HK of District 3450 and the Rotary Club of Bangkok Banglamphu of District 3350 have successfully applied for a Matching Grant from The Rotary Foundation (TRF) to help to provide medical and eye surgical instruments for the mobile cataract surgery voluntary camps in Thailand. We have received the confirmation from TRF a few days ago. The Rotary Club of Bangkok Banglamphu, the local host club, and our club will provide US$7,000 and US$5,050 District Designated Fund from District 3350 and 3450 respectively. The Rotary Club of Taipei Min Yuan of District 3480 will contribute US$3,000. The total contributions from all the Partners of US$15,050 will be matched by a Matching Grant of US$15,550 by TRF making the project to a total of US$28,600. The majority of the rural people in Thailand are below the poverty line and many of them are suffering from cataracts due to age problem, sun exposure and poor healthcare. There is a shortage of ophthalmologists and medical equipments for eye treatment and cataract surgery are needed. With the acquisition of the medical equipments, the mobile cataract surgery volunteer team will be better equipped to restore vision and prevent the crippling cause of blindness. We are invited to have a visit to the mobile surgery camp and we are working on whether we can have the visit during our trip to Bangkok as mentioned above. Our DG Peter Wan led the representatives of 10 Rotary Clubs to meet Mr. K.F. Yeung, Senior School Development Officer, of the Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) on 3rd March, 2006. The objective of the meeting was to explore how Rotary can help the schools which need some assistance in their management. IPDG Alexander Mak, I and Rotarian Michael Au were representing our club at the meeting and we have shown our interest in this program. Mr. Yeung explained that EMB will support the School Business Partnership Program by which Rotarians with their experience in many professions will definitely help some schools in some ways. The EMB will invite 8 to 10 schools from different districts of Hong Kong to meet the representatives from 8 to 10 Rotary Clubs to find out what the schools will need and what resource and expertise that Rotary can give. It will be a match making exercise and it will give Rotary Clubs the chance to identify themselves of how and what they can help. Our district will probably select a few schools as pilot cases. | ||
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More on Illusion
Buddhist teachings speak of the Four Noble Truths which begin with suffering. Suffering was everywhere, as it was in the beginning, is now and could be around for a very long time until and unless Man can learn to take care of each other with wisdom and compassion, which was the whys and wherefore the Buddha had decided to leave his comfortable palace and which was what he had discovered. The good news however is that everything that is conditioned is impermanent or not real, or an illusion in the parlance of my brother editor. It follows that suffering is impermanent and can be extinguished once we understand the causes of the suffering and discover the path leading to the cessation of such suffering. Our Rotary founders have discovered a means to help their fellow men, through service, and that cannot be bad. One can safely assume that men have been helping each other from time immemorial, though one might never discover fully why each individual had done what he did. Service, like wisdom or compassion, is therefore not an invention of the modern man or of Rotary. Rotary and the early Rotarians have simply institutionalized service. It therefore could be nothing short of rhetoric when people begin to question why we have been doing what we have been doing and whether we should continue on this path. When we join a Rotary club, we were told that Rotary is not a charity, is non political and non religious. Rotary works on what we call the Ideal of Service. Now, what is an ideal? My ideal would probably be different from yours; and so would China's from America's. Alas, words and languages are so problematic. In fact they sometimes create more problem than they can solve. In the end, one must bear in mind that they are also impermanent and hence illusionry. A simple example would illustrate my point. What is a chair? Does it exist? If the early city dwellers and first linguists had called a chair a table, would it alter the functions of the chair we know today? The chair could well have been called by any other name, a dog could have been called a cat, and so on, in the same way that a rose, called by another name, would smell as sweet. Similarly and back to Rotary, Paul Harris and his three friends could have called Rotary something else and we could still be together working on projects under each of the avenues of service. The test, as my brother editor seems to have suggested, is whether we have helped our fellow men through our deeds, yearly, monthly, daily and on a continuing basis. I once said, a Rotary club which does not sponsor or carry on projects that would benefit the community or the world should not be called as such. What do you think? I would now say, give them time, for as long as the members are volitioned to do good, as long as they have the compassion to help others, or capable of being fired up to so feel, it may not matter that much. We are in the middle of Lent, which is a period for Christians to reflect in the lead up to Christ's Passion and subsequent Resurrection. Whatever you believe in, as long as you feel for your fellow men and other sentient beings, as long as you wish them well, you can potentially help the world to be a better place in which to live. It is a good time to reflect on how we can go further each day and make a difference through our action. And this is what Rotary is all about, which is not an illusion. | ||
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Views in any article in Kingspark News reflect those of the authors. They are not necessarily the views of the Rotary Club of Kingspark or of District 3450. You are welcome to write to Chief Editor Francis Wann or Club Webmaster John Wan on any topic, particularly in response to articles published in Kingspark News. We would publish all contributions as long as the authors identify themselves, the contents are not offensive or abusive, and would not offend common decency or common sense. You need not be a Rotarian to write to us and you have a choice to withhold your name in the published version. Where the contents make reference to statements or policies of individuals or organizations, we would try to obtain a response from the latter for publication in the same issue if possible. | ||
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Chief
Editor : Francis Wann The Board of Directors President
: Dominic Ko | ||
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