|
PPx2 Chris went over and above for today’s meeting because not only did he host the meeting but, he wrote the Windmill! After ringing the bell he thanked Janet Schwartz for greeting, Jim Meyer for leading the pledge, PP Mark Rogo for his “thought of the day” and PP Ed Gauld for leading the singing of “God Bless America.”
Special Guest was the President of the UCLA Rotaracts, Coline Luo who spoke about upcoming volunteer opportunities and, thanked the Club for providing funding for a Rotaract to attend the Humanitarian trip to Maui. She also mentioned the UCLA Rotaracts meet every Wednesday while in school on the UCLA campus from 5-6 pm if anyone would like to attend. On November 17th, the UCLA Rotaracts will be sponsoring an on-campus event to introduce Interacts and other High School Students to UCLA. WVRC is encouraged to attend (12-3) and participate.
PP Chris then announced that the Foundation Celebration was great fun at SoFi Stadium, WVRC’s basket earned near a $1K for the Rotary Foundation but, NO ONE from the Club won the monetary prizes!!
Today’s Speaker was introduced by John O’Keefe.
Today we were honored with a detailed well-presented lecture from Dr. John Goyette,
Vice President of Advanced Placement at The California Campus of Thomas Aquinas College. The campus is near the Ojai Valley. The
college enrolls 400 students in California and 200 students at the second campus in New England.
Dr. Goyette's talk focused on the benefits of a liberal education, specifically on the Great books written throughout history. Even some of the so-called bad books written so to encourage discourse among their students and faculty.
The purpose of reading the Great books and the so-called bad books is to create great conversations. These conversations echo the Socratic method emphasizing a path to determine the truth.
We were presented with an allegory from Plato discussing the human journey from darkness in a cave to the light representing the sun upon emerging from the cave. How do we get there is one of the many questions posed by Dr. Goyette. Imagine waking up in a dark cave facing inward chained to a wall where the only light is a fire burning behind the prisoner. Puppet masters play with the shadows cast upon the walls and ceiling. The prisoners do not know what is real or an illusion. Once they are released from their chains, they turn around and see for themselves what is truth and what was illusion as they head toward the light.
The search for the truth continues from there and makes one pause as to how this several thousand-year-old analogy is still relevant in our
world today.
Today we have influencers daily attempting to lead us to their way of thinking. We have fake news. We have puppet masters in different
forms. So, the school presents an order for learning. They start with what they know and take the students on a journey to what they do
not know. They then work backwards using grammar, logic, and rhetoric eventually with sole purpose to discover the truth. Great books
must be read and reread. Questions must be asked repeatedly of the how and why the student interpreted the meaning of the Great Book.
Only then will the student be able to discern the intent of the author, and the truth learned.
Knowledge makes you free and allows you to ferret out the truth. In our world today, the truth has been obscured. We should all strive to disregard the constant bombardment of noise thrust at us in our own search for the truth.
PPx2 Chris was so enthralled in the presentation he almost let it run past time! He thanked the speaker, giving him a gift, and closed the meeting on time.
| 
