|
CAL - THE BURDEN BEAR by Bill Morris
Many of you know that I was privileged to adopt a rather large bear at the International Convention. He is so big that there was almost not enough room in the car on the way home for Ella. I have named him Cal. Since coming to live at our house (actually, Ellas house), I have had several conversations with Cal about Kiwanis. Seems that while he was waiting to be adopted, he saw and heard many great things about Kiwanis. He was really hoping that he would get to be in a good Kiwanis home, and not be stuck with some bratty kid who would drag him around and puke on him all the time. Cal told me that he really has a burden to be actively involved in the Kiwanis family. Here is what we discussed.
While Cal really enjoys being in our home, he would like to meet and get to know all of the members of our Kiwanis Club. He thought that maybe we could have a drawing to see who gets to have Cal stay with him or her next. But for how long? And then it came to us that we should only have Cal stay until the member who is hosting Cal brings a friend to visit our Kiwanis Club. Cal would be kind of a good will ambassador. Once that hosting member brought a guest, another member would be chosen to host Cal.
Of course, Cal was quite adamant that when our new guest comes to visit we provide all possible information about Kiwanis and our Club. He suggested that we get some kind of a brochure printed up like he saw at Convention. Well, I had to hand it to Cal that this was a pretty good idea. So, out of this basic idea, I made the following suggestions for a structure of Cals plan to the Board of Directors. Since they were a lame duck board, they said what the heck and went with it. Heres what the Board approved:
- 1. Since Morris seems to be the Bear Whisperer, he will start the process. He is to bring Cal to all Club meetings and events until he brings a guest to a Club meeting or event. When that occurs, the next member to host Cal will be chosen. The person hosting Cal will then be responsible to bring him to all Club meetings and events until that person brings his or her own guest. By the way, since Cal is a guest, the hosting member is responsible to pay for Cals breakfast, which will be shared with the guest speaker for that day.
- 3. The next hosting member shall be chosen by a random drawing. A deck of playing cards has been prepared with the names of all active members on the cards. Once a member has hosted Cal and brought a guest, that member is immune from being a host again for two months. If a member decides that it would be too much of a burden to host Cal, then a member can obtain two months immunity by bringing a guest to a Club meeting or event in advance. And a member can gain six months immunity by sponsoring a new member in the Club. Otherwise, the friendly fine for ignoring Cal is a bizillion dollars.
- 4. A word about likes and dislikes about Cal. Bill has found that his favorite colors are Blue and Gold. On the other hand, the color red causes a definite adverse reaction. Never put anything red on Cal. Similarly, never use the words Stanford or Furd around Cal. You just dont want to see how angry he gets when these words are used.
- 5. Finally, as a result of this great Cal Plan, we need an updated hand out about Kiwanis and our club. Bill, Larry Graves and Mike Akana are working on that now.
-
|
|
|
|
In his last message as President, Bill Morris questioned the origin of the phrase "Swan Song." No sooner had the newsletter gone out than I got this email from Mike Akana: "The phrase "*swan song*" is a reference to an ancient belief that the Mute Swan is completely mute during its lifetime until the moment just before it dies, when it sings one beautiful song.
|
