KINGSPARK NEWS

Club Number: 30119

2008-09 Rotary Year : Issue 20 : 1 July 2009

Contents

President's Column (A Lifetime Career as a Past President) - By President Joyce Mak
From the Editor (The Michaels)
From the Chater President (Earthquake in Greece) - By CP John Wan
Letters to Editor

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President's Column

By President Joyce Mak

A Lifetime Career as a Past President

A night full of mixed feelings myself at Kingspark's club installation and it was successfully held on 17 June. Apart from having DGE Ada and CP John to witness this memorable event, we had a special guest who is a classmate of DGE Ada, DGE Sid from Makati, Philippines. He was visiting HK and was being invited to take part at our installation by Ada. It was indeed a great privilege to have 2DGEs & one PDG to attend this important hand over ceremony. I did not cry as I believe as the President this year is just the beginning of the journey and titled as Past President is actually a lifetime career, Calvin reminded me. It is very true, a President is like a young child. A good start to learn and explore new things; to see and experience different challenges; to fall and stumble on road blocks; to meet good and bad teachers; to know a lot of new friends. Apart from God, we must always be thankful and be proud that we were being born from a well-recognized mother, namely Kingspark HK.

That evening had a good turn up of almost 30 people with the support of members, spouses, Rotaractors and guests. I could not explain my utmost gratitude to all of you by simple words and I sincerely mean it.

I was very touched the moment AG Peter presented a gift on behalf of the club. He had bought it one year ago when we were at the Kingspark Camp in Pun Yu. It was a beautifully written piece in Chinese calligraphy using our club's Chinese name as a leading theme written vertically. Each individual word laying across leads to another sentence written horizontally, sounds like Scrabble! These sentences are full of grace and encouragement. AG Peter is a forward looking person in the sense that he had faith that I could survive the year of presidency. It was really a great gift full of good memories.

A club without members' support is meaningless, the spirit of family and fellowship and passion towards community service become the catalyst in maintaining a strong bonding among us. It is easy to form a new club, but difficult to sustain one. We received great news from the district regarding the chartering of a number of new clubs this year eg. RC of Lion's Rock, RC of Kowloon Tong and RC of Central. We all delighted to see the growth of membership in the district and wish them the very best in their strife to build a true Rotary spirit among the district.

I finally conducted my last luncheon meeting on 25 June. I had a guest speaker, Carter Chim, who is one of the Ambassadorial Scholarship applicants for this coming Rotary year. He was graduated from Wah Yan College Kowloon and now studying his 5th year at Hong Kong University, Law degree. He shared with us his academics and his experience in serving at various government departments. Members were interested to learn that he actually helped some very senior legislative members to write their speeches, he commented that it was definitely a very difficult task to accomplish. Because only God knows what do these people really want to present to the public.

This last meeting as being the President will always be an unforgettable one, especially members such as our Editor, Francis and International Director, Michael Au were there to support too! I still have about 4 days of Presidency at Kingspark and my last word to you all is 'Gratefulness'. It has been my great honour to have the chance to serve all of you and I'll always be proud to tell everyone that I am the Past President of RC of Kingspark HK. I look forward to seeing you in the new Rotary year.

A journey to my new career as being a Past President has just begun!

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From the Editor

The Michaels

On the surface, their lives seem worlds apart. He was the bad boy who turned the musical chair around. He lived under the limelight for most of his life, breaking rules and pushing barriers. But the boy from Reading followed the mainstream, earned his CPA and has been in his accountancy business for a while.

Yet they have at least one thing in common - they share the same first name. Michael Jackson was everything that wasn't in the real world. Forget about what they say about his plastic surgeries, his fantasies, and his flamboyant lifestyle and strip him of his millions in estates then he is no different from the man in the street. Michael Eyles, on the other hand, begins his official role as president of a Rotary club today and has a year in front of him to prove his worth. CP John described him as "seasoned" Rotarian during his installation last month, and went on to tell him that he himself would be the only person to judge his performance.

While the King of pop music remains the darling of record companies and the entertainment world, he must also be the nightmare for all mums. As a teacher, I know how frustrated we are when our students start "moonwalking" to their classroom. Despite his huge impact on the music world, Michael has never been far from bad publicity right to his last days. Perhaps that's how the entertainment world survives.

But whether you are his fan or not, you simply cannot deny his talent and his contribution to the world, not only to the world of music. He's brought joy and happiness to millions of people, and his foundation is also helping millions in need all over the world. The invasion of "black" music and culture must have also reminded us of the values of equality and social justice.

I'm not sure if you were in Birmingham for the RI Convention which has just concluded its 100th session. I know DG Ada was there, and I hope she went to Archbishop Desmond Tutu's press conference where he encouraged Rotary Peace Fellows and young people to "Go for it" in our fight for world peace. I also hope she didn't miss Mia Farrow, the Goodwill Ambassador who was a victim of polio herself as a child. I met her a few months ago at the FCC when she made an appeal to help end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Seeing her also reminded me of my favourite film Rosemary's Baby which won an Oscar for Roman Polanski for Best Writing and Screenplay.

Being there is different. You can see first hand how committed others are and you tend not to lose hope. I hope there's something in Birmingham which has inspired her, and perhaps she'd tell us during her installation next Saturday.

And as our President Michael prepares for his first meeting, he might also remember what he wrote a few years ago for Kingsparknews with the title " I want to be District Governor" (Aug 2006). Though written with his tougue firmly in his cheek, he nevertheless told us of his commitment to the club itself. And with that being said, members could rest assured that Kingspark is now unmistakeably in good hands.

Good bye Michael, Hello President Michael.

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From the Charter President

Earthquake in Greece

If you had read the last issue of Kingspark News, you would recall that I was going away and won't be back until August. Well, I came back this evening to pack for another trip, and just in time to publish this issue of Kingspark News from my Seymour Road flat.

For the record, Joyce emailed me her piece last Friday - 26 June - after the last club meeting she would chair as President, which is why I decided to publish this as the 2008-09 Year. Besides, I have yet to receive MIchael's article.

By the way, Governor Ada had asked Editor Francis who had in turn asked me to correct an editorial error in the Editorial regarding her ballet records. In putting in her request for the editorial changes, Ada had actually thanked Francis for putting together a rather factual and interesting piece without the assistance of a tape recorder or a note pad during the interview. So my brother editor was not exploiting his poetic licence when he said that our new Governor was dipolmatic.

I recall a little joke from Chris Patten when he was in HKU promoting his book "Not Quite the Dipomat". He said some people were thinking that the book was titled "Not Quite the Democrat". It is thus that the two words can be interchangeable at times, as circumstances warrant.

Back to my trip to Greece, news from CNN has just got in that a 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit near the Greek island of Crete today (Wednesday) at 12:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. ET). It was centered about 80 miles (130 kilometers) off the city of Iraklion on Crete. An earthquake with a 6.7 magnitude is considered a strong earthquake, capable of causing significant damage, especially in areas of poor construction. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. A seismologist at the British Geological Survey explained that the earthquake happened deep below the sea, leading to little risk of tsunami and reducing the likelihood that people would feel tremors.

The past 2,500 years and possibly longer has seen quite a few earthquakes - some rather major ones - in Greece. Over the past few days in Greece, I found myself constantly walking the ruins of many major sites rocked by earthquakes, a couple of times for some areas. Cities had been destroyed; mountains created; temples were reduced to a few columns and sometimes left beneath the seas; and in what used to be major socio-economical centres, people were too busy making ends meet than digging into the ground to unravel archelogical finds that are certain.

I indicated last time that Greece had actually outlawed the Catholic religion in the country. They did; and it is mind boggling to witness in person, how descendents of a nation formed to defend and uphold "Democracy" are now busily engaging in activities to outlaw a main-stream religion.

The Greeks have also thrived on mythology for many thousand years. Their gods killed other gods; or more precisely, the younger gods killed their parents so that they could pepetrate their existence and folklore. The history of Greece is a litany of battles between gods and gods, gods and men, and men and men, with excesses for erotic behaviours, sensual sex and lust, and free sex, even though the Greek tradition prides itself to promote a culture and heritage that would not generate excess, but would thrive for balance of the mind and body. It was against such background that St. Paul went about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, with different results in different cities and among different communities in Greece - all rather interesting.

I need to pack after I have unpacked; and I would see you in August. In the meantime, I am sorry I have yet to create a website for President Michael Eyles. I am sure he understands. I wish him well.

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Letters to Editor

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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