June is Rotary Fellowship Month.  In the spirit of fellowship, PP Peter Moore and PE Dwight Heikkila greeted our members who came to the meeting with a triumphant, happy attitude.

PP Mike Newman led the pledge of allegiance. 

Tom Barron gave the invocation:

Have you ever been discouraged because of not achieving a specific goal or task?  Failure is not always the important thing.  Let me explain.  Two brothers decided to dig a deep hole behind their house.  As they were working, a couple older boys stopped by to watch.  “What are you doing?” asked one of the boys.  “We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth!” one of the brothers excitedly replied.  The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible.

After a long silence, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms and a wide assortment of insects.  He removed the lid and showed the wonderful contents to the scoffing boys.  Then he said quietly and confidently, “Even if we don’t go all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way.”

Their goal was far too ambitious, but it did cause them to dig.  And that is what a goal is for—to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen; in other words, to get us digging!

Not every goal will be achieved.  Not every job will end successfully.  Not every relationship will endure.  Not every hope will come to pass.  Not every dream will be realized.  And when that happens, when you fall short of your aim, you could say, yeah, but look at what I have done along the way!  Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I tried to do something!  For it’s in the digging that life is lived.  And it is joy in the journey, in the end, that truly matters.  Lord God, please bless our journey through life.

Well said, Tom.

Announcements: Auxiliary and Rotary member Pauline Harris invited all to the Auxiliary Installation on Tuesday, June 12, at Sally Brant’s lovely home.  For an added bonus, incoming president Dwight Heikkila will be the featured speaker.

We had no visiting Rotarians. 

Guests: Jane Mulato was a guest of Peggy Bloomfield, and Ted Henderson was a guest of Art Henry.

Dimone Watson, principal at Emerson Middle School, brought Brandon Posivak, winner of the Alan Campbell Award for highest grade point average.  Alan Campbell was a principal at Emerson and a longtime member of the Westwood Village Rotary Club.  Brandon thanked all the members for the award and for supporting Emerson.  He concluded by saying that he looks forward to the day when he can become a member of Rotary.  Well-done Brandon, but you can get started with Rotary by making sure your high school has an Interact club, like Uni High School.  It was fortuitous for Brandon that Eric Davidson, the principal at Uni High, was in attendance.  Brandon accepted the $50 stipend that is part of the award, and his mother drove him back to school because he needed to be back in class.  Brandon, you’re always welcome back to the friendly Westwood Village Rotary Club.

PE Dwight Heikkila suggested that President Ed stretched the bounds of Rotary ethics by sending out a letter notifying people of his support for Bill Bloomfield, who is running for Congress.  Bill, whom we know and love, was president of the Westwood Village Rotary Club exactly 25 years ago, and he is currently president of the Manhattan Beach Rotary Club.  He is one of two members of the highest level of Arch C. Klumph Society, which honors Rotary’s greatest benefactors.  The other member is his mother, our own Peggy Bloomfield.  Bill was running against incumbent Henry Waxman and five other people to represent the 33rd Congressional District.  Bill was one of the top two vote getters and will be running against Waxman in a runoff in November.

PP Mike Newman yelled from the floor that no sitting president can be fined.  That is correct, but President Ed remembers our May 31^st speaker, PP Yoshio Setuguchi, speaking at an orientation meeting and telling members not to get involved with politics; the reason Rotary is so effective around the world and in our communities is because we are neutral.  For committing this infraction, in the spirit of fellowship since June is Rotary Fellowship Month.

President Ed decided to fine himself, so he agreed to pay for the first drink for everyone who comes to his demotion party, Saturday, June 23 at the Beach Club.

PP and fourth-quarter program chair Mike Newman introduced our speaker: Yingnian WU, UCLA professor in statistics and is an expert on Chinese culture.  Professor Wang told us that the traditional culture of China is steeped in spiritualism, but with the present regime, spiritualism has been taken out of the culture.  His talk was very enlightening regarding China and where the people and the culture will be going in the future.  He invited us to see the artwork and pageantry of China in two performances that are coming up in the near future.

—YOE Ed Jackson

NEARBY MAKEUP SITES: Monday, Beverly Hills, BH Hotel, 9641 Sunset / Tuesday, Inglewood, Hollywood Park Casino, 3883 W. Century Blvd, Inglewood / Wednesday, Century City, Hyatt Regency Century City, in the Breeze Cafe, Culver City, Raddison Hotel, 6161 W Centinela Ave, CC, or  Wilshire, The Ebell, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd, LA / Friday, Santa Monica, Riviera Country Club, 1250 Capri Dr, Pacific Palisades
For information about on-line makeups, www.recswusa.org