Owego Rotary Club Rotateller

HE WHO DOES NOT LIVE IN SOME DEGREE FOR OTHERS, HARDLY LIVES FOR HIMSELF. Michel deMontaigne

GUESTS:

FINES:

Annette announced that the fireworks are now scheduled for tomorrow night at the Hickories.

GOLF:

John announced that the duties have become a little longer. Plan on noon to 4:00 PM. Volunteers will be issued tee-shirts. Protect yourself from the sun. Since we will be handling food, we will need hats. Our headquarters will be at the 16th tee. Please enter through the volunteer gate.

The Bainbridge Club is having a golf tournament at the Afton Golf Course on August 31.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE:

Matt discussed the membership drive. If you have names of perspective members, please pass them on to Matt, Carolyn, or Orv. Fred has always had the best way of expressing this. If you know someone who you think would appreciate Rotary and make a contribution, honor them by inviting them to a few meetings to let them get to see some of what Rotary is about. Like any army, we need an adequate number of active members and we always need to replace those who we lose due to attrition. The RI president will be at our Foundation dinner this year and new members will be recognized there.

HICKORY SMOKED BLUES:

Wayne Clark put in a plug for this year’s excellent line-up. He also displayed a letter from Daniel Webster to Daniel Dickinson from 1850.

PROGRAM:

Wayne introduced Christian Sezenias who discussed Reverse Mortgages. The material was presented well and it was almost all new to me. Material was handed out, so I will only give a brief summary, but this program enables qualified people to stay in their own home while borrowing on the value of their property. Repayment is deferred until the death or when the person needs to mover permanently out of their home. The debt is then paid from the sale of the property. The family could choose to keep the property if they want and pay off the debt. This program is federally insured. People get a line of credit based on their age, the value of their home, and the interest rate. The money is not taxed. It can be used for a variety of purposes and there can also be a monthly income. There are initial costs to set up the program and maintenance costs including insurance. The money in the line of credit earns interest if it is not used.

50/50 Maria

Perspective: It is a challenge to maintain an open mind. Some misunderstandings or lack of knowledge don’t tend to make a difference such as not knowing exactly how my car works or my computer as long as it performs the functions I desire and I can get it fixed when needed. When we think about understanding each other and making the world smaller, however, it can make a difference. I find the following from Richard Dawkins to be thought-provoking.

‘Tell me,’ the great twentieth-century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once asked a friend, ‘why do people always say it was natural for man to assume that the sun went around the Earth rather than that the Earth was rotating?’ His friend replied, ‘Well, obviously because it just looks as though the Sun is going round the Earth.’ Wittgenstein responded, ‘Well, what would it have looked like if it had looked as though the Earth was rotating?’ I sometimes quote this remark of Wittgenstein in lectures, expecting the audience to laugh. Instead, they seem stunned into silence.

Rotateller Rotary Club of Owego, NY
Tuesday, July 10, 2007 Gary Williams, Editor