PRESIDENT'S CORNER: October 14, 2016

Bonnie update: Many of you know my dear wife, Bonnie Jean, and maybe know she had to have a small tumor in the uterus removed in January. A side effect of that surgery was a new hernia (3 actually) that was repaired on Tuesday. She is back home and having some pain and very sore tummy muscles, but is making good progress. Thanks to all who have sent supporting thoughts.

OLLI Heroes: Alas, Bonnie is just one of our OLLI members to have had cancer or some other malady causing great upheaval in the daily life.  It is deeply inspiring to me to have witnessed the bravery and stoicism of those afflicted, as they have, in most cases, risen to healing and renewed life. I’m not going to list everyone—you know who they are, but to each one, we all owe a debt of love and gratitude as witnesses to their travails and healing journeys. It is also inspiring to find that the medical research profession feels it is on the verge of a major breakthrough with cancer, and it seems we see yet another successful treatment option every month. Who in their right mind would deny sufficient funding of programs that are so close to ultimate success?

Winter Term: Monday, October 17 is the deadline for proposals for Winter Term. I, for one, will not be offering a Winter course, but will host Film Forum beginning in March, after a Winter hiatus. I, too, will need healing time! So, teachers…put on your thinking caps and figure out what type of classes would be just the thing to honor winter, keep people warm with ideas and stimulate conversation in the Member Lounge.

OK, here come the advice quips!

Security is mostly superstition…Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. [Helen Keller]

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. [Last words of Blackfoot warrior Crowfoot]

It isn’t for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for the long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security. [Writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh]

Because Yom Kippur is a fast day, it is appropriate to wish your Jewish friends an "Easy Fast" on Yom Kippur, or in Hebrew "Tzom Kal." The traditional Yom Kippur greeting is "G'mar Hatimah Tovah" or "May You Be Sealed for a Good Year (in the Book of Life)."

Blessings,
Jim Held, President