Report on a Forum for Peace in Maryborough.
Posted by Geoffrey James
on Mar 7, 2013
Last Thursday, a little over 50 people including Rotarians, our Mayor of Central Goldfields Shire and several guests discovered how extensive is the work for Peace of this amazing organization called Rotary.
Our Peace Forum kicked off with some musical items from renowned folk singer, Fay White and her husband, Terry. Fay and Terry soon had us all singing out about the "strangest dream" where "they put an end to war". DGN Geoff then outlined a useful definition for peace based on the Ancient Hebrew concept of Shalom. Geoff explained that for the ancient Jews, peace meant wholeness in four inter-related dimensions: for individuals it meant inner peace with ourselves, in relationships it meant honesty and telling the truth, in society it meant justice and fair dealings in the marketplace, and in the cosmos it mean harmony with the environment. So we know what peace is, and this definition shows how we can get it, but given that we humans are aggressive animals at the top of the food chain, we often don't want peace badly enough. The forum was designed to inspire us all to want peace more.
Past District Governor, Cathy Roth then provided the inspiration we needed. She started by telling the story of when she first started speaking at Rotary clubs as the first female Rotary president in Australia, in 1994. At one all male club, as soon as Cathy started speaking, all the members turned their backs to her. Cathy explained to them that she understood - those members must have felt violated to have a female Rotary president in their midst, but, Cathy added that their sense of violation was nothing compared to what she felt when she encountered the first male midwives as she gave birth to one of her three children! Cathy went on to describe and quote some of the great peace sayings of our Rotary International President, Sakuji Tanka who has initiated several International Peace forums this year in key peace cities of the world - Pearl Harbour, Berlin and Hiroshima.
We then heard students from both the Maryborough Education Centre and Highview College on their understanding of the need for peace. Both Chris Melton (MEC) and Brooke Carron (Highview) gave very impressive and thoughtful talks on what we can all do to make our world a more peaceful place.
The evening concluded with Loloma Puls from Horsham Rotary Club who provided a comprehensive summary of the many talks from two recent International Peace symposiums she has attended - in Birmingham and Bagkok. Overall, during the night, members and visitors were well exposed to the many wonderful ways in which Rotary International works for world peace and understanding.
Our Peace Forum kicked off with some musical items from renowned folk singer, Fay White and her husband, Terry. Fay and Terry soon had us all singing out about the "strangest dream" where "they put an end to war". DGN Geoff then outlined a useful definition for peace based on the Ancient Hebrew concept of Shalom. Geoff explained that for the ancient Jews, peace meant wholeness in four inter-related dimensions: for individuals it meant inner peace with ourselves, in relationships it meant honesty and telling the truth, in society it meant justice and fair dealings in the marketplace, and in the cosmos it mean harmony with the environment. So we know what peace is, and this definition shows how we can get it, but given that we humans are aggressive animals at the top of the food chain, we often don't want peace badly enough. The forum was designed to inspire us all to want peace more.
Past District Governor, Cathy Roth then provided the inspiration we needed. She started by telling the story of when she first started speaking at Rotary clubs as the first female Rotary president in Australia, in 1994. At one all male club, as soon as Cathy started speaking, all the members turned their backs to her. Cathy explained to them that she understood - those members must have felt violated to have a female Rotary president in their midst, but, Cathy added that their sense of violation was nothing compared to what she felt when she encountered the first male midwives as she gave birth to one of her three children! Cathy went on to describe and quote some of the great peace sayings of our Rotary International President, Sakuji Tanka who has initiated several International Peace forums this year in key peace cities of the world - Pearl Harbour, Berlin and Hiroshima.
We then heard students from both the Maryborough Education Centre and Highview College on their understanding of the need for peace. Both Chris Melton (MEC) and Brooke Carron (Highview) gave very impressive and thoughtful talks on what we can all do to make our world a more peaceful place.
The evening concluded with Loloma Puls from Horsham Rotary Club who provided a comprehensive summary of the many talks from two recent International Peace symposiums she has attended - in Birmingham and Bagkok. Overall, during the night, members and visitors were well exposed to the many wonderful ways in which Rotary International works for world peace and understanding.