INSPIRATION
Editors Note: This is the inspiration provided by Craig Ely at last week's Installation. Thank you Craig! This was truly inspiring.
Monaco South Installation Lunch – October 2, 2021 – Craig Eley
This part of today’s program is called “Inspiration”
When I was asked to do this, I thought “we have all lived through, and continue to live through, the most dismal period of our lives. Friends, relatives and acquaintances have died, and none of us have been left untouched by what has been a world-wide calamity. Where can we find inspiration in the midst of gloom and sorrow?”
And just this morning, the headline on the front page of the Denver Post announced “700,000 dead.”
But then I remembered that we are Optimists, not just in name, but in our philosophy of daily life.
Now, that doesn’t mean that we ignore the facts (although it seems that many people these days have little regard for facts). No, we’re not blind to what is going on, but we look for the bright, the good, and to the future, and we refuse to be dragged down into a pool of despair.
Personally, I think of how hopeful and helpful it is to be an Optimist a dozen times a day, and I thank the man who brought me to the Optimist movement – or at least I used to until he finally changed his phone number.
I think it’s a universal truth that unless we have faith that there is a better future awaiting us, we won’t be motivated to continue to work to try to make it so.
Optimists are the doers, the accomplishers of our society.
That’s not to say that there is a not a place in the world for pessimists.
For example, the Wright brothers were optimists – they believed humans could fly, and they invented the airplane. But it was probably a pessimist who invented the parachute. And perhaps we need the pessimists who make sure there is always a plan B.
But we don’t have to look too hard today for glimpses of light and hope. We have learned that medical science can do almost anything when it needs to. We will soon have vaccines for our children and grandchildren. And it has just been announced that a pill has been developed to fight Covid.
In fact, the pandemic has led us to new ways to communicate with each other, to work, and to understand how the well-being of others directly impacts the well-being of ourselves.
Even history shows us that after the pandemic of one hundred years ago, what followed? The Roaring 20s.
And we will come roaring back as well.
It’s already happening- in a scant 30 days McDonald’s is bringing back the McRib sandwich. And locally, Casa Bonita is about to reopen. Both, I’m sure you agree, are indisputable signs that we are on the cusp of a greater tomorrow.
Now, I may be preaching to the choir, since all of you are here today because you are Optimists.
We are here to install a new group of leaders for our Club, leaders who are optimistically looking forward to the greater achievements of the future.
So, thank you for being here. Thank you for refusing to be broken by the events which press in on us. Thank you for being part of the future.
I’ll end with these words by Winston Churchill, who certainly had more than his share of difficult and desperate days. He said
“For myself, I am an optimist. It does not seem to be much use to be anything else.”
RABBIT EARS PASS
A beautiful fall morning welcomes the gathered for today’s meeting. Our greeters this morning are Allen Malask and Matthew Nelson.
Our multi-talented President, Tom Kramis gives a lesson on tying knots, one of the many talents he acquired by living on the Northwest Coast. Tom shows how to tie a Bowline Hitch, a handy knot to know if you are boating enthusiast. Eagle Scout Bob Avery asks whether Tom can do it with one hand.
MEMBER NOTES
Kevin Koalenz
Dick Nickoloff says this past Wednesday, he had the oil change in his car, at an establishment that he has used for many years. The operator of the establishment had his wife in hospital recently, she is suffering severe complications from COVID. The operator mentioned he though he brought it home, passing it on to her. Dick asked him if he had been vaccinated, to which the owner said he had thought about it but no he had not. Dick urges all of us to please take the time to get the vaccine; for you, for your family, and for the world.
SPEAKER