Speech to District 3780 Conference

March 20 2009

Make Dreams Real—

King Arthur’s Rotary

Wei-Lin “Dens” Shao

To fight the unbeatable foe,

To bear the unbearable sorrow,

To run where the brave dare not go."

Governor Alexander P. Cureg, Past Governors, DGE, Guests and my dear Partners in Service 2008~2009.

More than forty years ago, the noted English actor Peter O'Tool vividly portrayed the "Knight of the woeful countenance" in the film "Don Quixote". The way he goes after his dreams touched me deeply.

25 years later when I read the essay "Never too old to dream or serve" by 1985-86 RI President Edward F. Cadman I was pleasantly surprised to find that past President Cadman had used Miguel de Cervantes' most famous character to illustrate the positive side of humanity- Beauty and kindness. Imagine my joy to find in the Rotary philosophy the romantic literature that influenced me so much in my youth!

Almost 10 years ago, I was also very happy to find that the 1998-99 RI theme— “Follow your rotary dream” also talks about a dreamer.

And one year ago, when I learned that our theme for this rotary year was “Make Dreams Real”. It caused me to remember a quote from his eminence Cardinal Leon Joseph of Belgium: ”Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.” So our RIP DK Lee encourages us to be an idealistic, giving, dedicated and happy Rotarian— a lovable “Rotary Dream Chaser?”

And now let me say to all of you, as Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered August 28^th 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

“I Have a Dream”

“I hope to Make Dreams Real— King Arthur’s Rotary.”

In the year AC1000 the Roman Empire’s influence started to wane and was unable to exert full control over it’s territories. English & French clans & feudal lords all scrambled to form their own fiefdoms. War was rife with every self proclaimed King believing their rule bestowed upon them by God. Every one of them had power over life & death. But with such absolute power and god-like mentality; a new school of thought emerged put forward by King Arthur in England; “why does your things belong to you, my things to me with us fighting for each others belonging? Why not jump out of this mindset and think, “ your belongings are mine and my belonging also belong to you? You are bigger than me so you be my big brother. I am bigger than you so you be my little brother. Sharing our wisdom, our wealth, our power and our enterprise. This ideal of sharing unified England and created the utopia estate – Camelot, bringing a period of peace & prosperity for its people.

This didn’t last however; as upon the eventual death of King Arthur, chaos reign the kingdom once again. Dispute broke out into war bringing hardship to the masses. As a result poets & people started to reminisce & miss King Arthur [ Oh great Arthur! Your death symbolized the disappearance of the peaceful Camelot. There’s nothing but chaos and war and suffering for the people. Our Utopia is no more. Peace and harmony deserted us and are only now distant memories.] Missed by the people, Camelot becomes the by-word for paradise/utopia. A symbol that represented a longing and remembrance for a unified and harmonious world.

Let’s not forget the round table knights in the legend of King Arthur. Every one of them that accompanied King Arthur’s rule owned their own castle. Is this not the same for Rotary members? Not only do you need impeachable personal integrity but also to be a leader in your own professions, It is only than that you will be invited by the Head – Arthur to become a round table knight – Rotary Member. For example I am a dentist; my castle is my profession – dentistry. Therefore every Rotary member is like a Rotary Knight; he has 2 duties:

1.   He/she must be a leader or professional representing his/her castle  - Profession, attend the roundtable meeting at King Arthur’s Camelot – Rotary Meetings. Where everyone comes together to share everyone’s emotions, wisdom & knowledge.

2.   Also whilst outside of ‘Camelot’ we must carry our sword – 「The 4 Way Test」– to defend Rotary within our professional circle, within our lives.

Therefore, within the Rotary club we share our joy & enthusiasm for the Rotary movement while in the outside world we wield 「The 4 Way Test」  to do good, to serve and to share Rotary with the whole world and in the process find our very own Camelot – Utopia the missed harmonious world that used to be.

Within our meetings, our embraces, mutual sharing, personal egos are put aside and true appreciation of the meaning of teamwork is achieved.

In the embrace of Rotary do we not find the Nirvana within our hearts? – Rotary’s Camelot. Spreading this ideal to reach the masses in order to achieve the Utopia world that Rotary yearns is our responsibility. Is this great task easily achievable? Of course not. That’s why the 1949-50 Rotary International President Percy C. Hodgson started the very first Rotary International Themes. Henceforth, giving us a new direction each year. For this year the new direction given by RI President D.K. LEE is “Make Dreams Real”.

“In 2008-09, I will ask Rotarians everywhere to focus on the most precious resource of every community: our children.”

"Children are killed by illnesses that become deadly in combination with poor sanitation and malnutrition," Lee said. In addition, families stricken by extreme poverty are trapped in a cycle that only leads to more unnecessary deaths. "It's a cycle that is not interrupted because there is no access to education."

He challenged us to do their part to give children "hope and a chance at a future" by reducing the rate of child mortality in the world.

So we also have a dream in 2008-09, all Rotarians, clubs, and districts were asked to Make Dreams Real for the world's children.

But today, all too frequent are dreams and dreamers met with derision. However, when one examines the US history, didn’t the greatest moments in U.S. history came during periods that caused its citizens to dream: from achieving her independence as a nation to placing a man on the moon? PRID William B.P. Caldwallader in his essay “Dream Today of Tomorrow’s Reality” emphasized, “Our dream today will be tomorrow’s reality.” Therefore I believe that we must let our creative minds roam freely, to plan how to achieve and realize our dreams.  From the beginning of human history, many great thinkers have put forward various thesis of how to achieve a just society, and strive for a better world. Our founder Paul Harris setout his dream in 1905: “……..to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster………the development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service. ”Service is the measurable expression of love. It is an intelligent and voluntary act of the spirit through which we put into action all of the innate virtues of man in order to serve in a continuous, generous, and altruistic manner the legitimate interests of others. The ideal of service sweeps away selfishness, destroys barriers that separate people, transforms competition into cooperation, and reveals the beauty of life and the nobility of the human race. These noble ideals, has not only recruited 1.2 million Rotarians from 159 nations it has also mobilized many millions of volunteers to help create a better tomorrow.

As a Rotarian we must strive to create a better tomorrow through the Rotary movement. We must turn this dream into a reality. Remember what the 1952-53 RI President H.J. Brunnier said:

"We can dream all we please about a bright new-world,

but unless we are willing to work for it,

we shall never realize our ambition."

No matter how great, difficult or arduous the road to achieving our dream is, if we are willing to pay the price to make it true, I believe that we will prevail! Just like the poem in the opera "The Man of La Mancha" – ‘To dream the impossible dream and willing to pay the price to make it come true.’

Our “Partners in Service 2008~2009”, D3780 have leaded by Governor Alexander P. Cureg to soar height already, because you, I, We, all of us firmly believe—

“D3780 will remember what is best in us.  In this Rotary year and always, together in fellowship and service, we will go forth into a struggling world and we will ‘Make Dreams Real’, because ‘The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands’ now.’’