President Worth called the meeting to order at 12:45, recognizing the wonderful dinner music from Thomas Moore.
     Worth introduced Rotary Lt. Governor David Hodgkins. who presented us the third in a row Presidential Citation Award, signifying that our club has participated in all areas of service during the last year.
     Jim Alexander introduced members and guests, many of whom had Wake Forest connections.
     Catherine Browning introduced Charlene Mills, a recipient of one of our Rotary scholarships for her studies in fine arts at East Carolina University. Charlene and her mother showed us excellent examples of her work with fabrics, including the dolls, quilting, and hand-dyed items she makes. She expressed her gratitude for our support. She will begin her fabric career following her graduation next year.
     Tom Hutchins brought us Health and Happiness with a special tribute to Dot and Powell Majors on their 67th wedding anniversary. He also read The Ragged Old Flag in honor of Flag Day.
     Mary-Stuart Brooks led our invocation.
     Don Steger introduced our newest member, Michael E. Crum.
     Worth recognized Speck Wilson and Martin Waters on the 50th anniversary of their membership in Charlotte Rotary. They received a standing ovation.
     Worth introduced the head table, including Henry Bostic, John Lassiter, John Phillips, William Rikard. and Curt Farmer, who introduced our speaker. Tom Hearn, president of Wake Forest University. Curt commented that there are 4,000 Wake graduates in the Charlotte area, now the home of the Babcock School of Business evening program.
     Dr. Hearn said he considered various topics for his presentation, but decided on something from the University rather than something about the University. He presented two of his own essays. Following are excerpts from each.

     During a meeting in San Antonio I chanced to visit the Alamo during the celebration of its sesquicentennial. My impression was that Texans had come to regret that national independence was ever yielded to a motley union of otherwise undistinguished states. You know that Texas pride of place! Having grown up on the Alamo story, I loved the visit and feasted on the valor and fortitude of those who died for freedom.
     Back home. National Public Radio did a story on the sesquicentennial which reported the true, not the mythic, version of the Alamo. This report was based on careful scholarship and historical research. The famous Travis episode never occurred. A complete invention. Crockett and Bowie were there for altogether unheroic motives. By the end of the report, the horrible truth was out. Our heroes were not heroes. Our history is not the stuff of legend. No glamour. No glory. No heroes.
     The debunking of heroes and heroism, a demythologizing of our political history, has become a leading academic sport. The revision of the history of our national past deprives us of heroines, heroes, or grandeur.
     I search here for a saving grace. Perhaps we do well not to be so completely given to hero worship. To make too much of the achievements of others is to undervalue our own possibilities. To divide the world neatly into the gifted few and the ordinary many is to say that destiny for most of us is limited and closed.
     The many, you and I, might be free to do then a lesser bidding, to merely stand and wait in the service of greatness. There is thus this lesson, offered as cold consolation to those of us who mourn the passing of the age of veneration. The human potential of any, even the least of us, is as high as our dreams and as wide as our doings.

     I am on a diet. People on diets are frightful bores because we are obsessed with food. We assume everyone wants to know how the war against fat is going.
     This is partly a strategic maneuver. The diet books tell us to spread the word among friends and associates. This creates expectations in others around us which in turn reinforces dietetic resolve. The dieter's motto: One is what one eats. What else but food is worth discussion among serious people?
     Taking care of yourself is prudent and rational. On our campus the interest in exercise among faculty, students, and staff is stretching our resources to the limit. The Benson Center and the gymnasium are full of sweating bodies. The Reynolds woods are full of joggers and walkers. Frankly, a lot of them look miserable.
     Stay in shape! Live longer! Is longer life a good thing? The cult of fitness confuses biological life (breath) with biographical life (human life), being alive with human experience. What is valuable to us, to others and to the world, is biography not biology. Breath is not life. To live longer is not an unqualified good. In the quest for a longer span of days, let us not lose the joys of those we have been given. I've lost ten pounds. Ten more to go.

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New Member

Charlotte Auditorium-Coliseum-
Convention Center Authority
100 Paul Buck Blvd. (28217)

704-357-4787
FAX 704-357-4757

     Mike enjoys outdoor activities and travel. He regularly travels to his family's cottage in northern Ontario for fishing, canoeing, and, in the winter months, snow-mobiling.

     Welcome to Charlotte Rotary, Mike.

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