________________________________________________________________________________________________
The FOGHORN
ROTARY CLUB OF HALF MOON BAY
April 3, 2025
Peter Wood
Article by Joe Brennan
Pres. Irwin introduced Peter Wood whom he encountered giving a pep talk to the parents and grandparents of his grandson’s Little League Team. Peter, through the Positive Coaching Alliance, was working with HMB Little League to help parents become a “Good Sport Parent” by coaching them to help their child/grandchild have the best sport experience and life. Irwin was so gobsmacked that he immediately invited Peter to address our Rotary Club.
Peter got his Bachelors Degree from Stanford and later his Masters from Saint John’s, the small Liberal Arts college in New Mexico with curricula is based on the 100 greatest books. Peter had a career as a high school History and Humanities teacher. He is an accomplished competitive cyclist competing in North America and Europe. He is also competes in Tennis and Golf events.
Peter began by laying out his objective; he wants the audience to get more of it, not just talking at us but involving us, sharing through smaller groups. He has always like to think about Big Ideas and misses those discussions with teachers. He has observed that this is a great way to sharpening our brains and growing our hearts. He starts out with a Big Question which will only work if we approach it with as open a mind as possible. Our question today: “What is the #1 responsibility of a human Being?” This set off a running dialog as one after the other of us volunteered answers which were parsed out, elaborated and discussed by all moderated by Peter.
Examples of the answers:
Practice Acceptance
Procreation as in Nature
Survival of Democracy
Maintain a Livable Planet
Having a sense of humor - don’t take oneself too seriously
Share and Cooperate - cant do it alone
Encourage a healthy life style - eat well and stay fit
Instill the Rotary Values in future generations
Listening
Learning
To get to tomorrow
Almost NINE billion of us - Responsibility to us or the planet?
The lively discussion instigated us to think about these many important matters!
Peter told a story about “a walk in the park” which became a life or death ordeal.
It began as a modest hike to a peak near Lake Tahoe, going light with just his dog. He took a worng trail descending and things became progressively dire. It got very dicey for man and dog but in the end they survived. He concluded the tale by observing that these are the moments that make you ask what is life about, what is important and what are my responsibilities?
From his privileged perspective (assuming one has water, food, sleep) his answer is education, continuing to learn. We are living in unprecedented times, semi Orwellian, stimulating Big Questions. We better have open minds and be able to think critically. Thinking with our own mind must be our own Socrates who went about Athens talking to all about their beliefs. When put on trial Socrates said “I am a gadfly being sure we are all free thinking citizens.” He was sentenced to death. He responded that “an unexamined life is not worth living.”
HIstory, moral philosophy and eloquence were embraced by our country’s Founding Fathers whose concept of the USA was that we could maintain Democracy because we have free minds to guide us…not high jacked. The mortal danger is the weakness to just be told what to think.
Peter got his Bachelors Degree from Stanford and later his Masters from Saint John’s, the small Liberal Arts college in New Mexico with curricula is based on the 100 greatest books. Peter had a career as a high school History and Humanities teacher. He is an accomplished competitive cyclist competing in North America and Europe. He is also competes in Tennis and Golf events.
Peter began by laying out his objective; he wants the audience to get more of it, not just talking at us but involving us, sharing through smaller groups. He has always like to think about Big Ideas and misses those discussions with teachers. He has observed that this is a great way to sharpening our brains and growing our hearts. He starts out with a Big Question which will only work if we approach it with as open a mind as possible. Our question today: “What is the #1 responsibility of a human Being?” This set off a running dialog as one after the other of us volunteered answers which were parsed out, elaborated and discussed by all moderated by Peter.
Examples of the answers:
Practice Acceptance
Procreation as in Nature
Survival of Democracy
Maintain a Livable Planet
Having a sense of humor - don’t take oneself too seriously
Share and Cooperate - cant do it alone
Encourage a healthy life style - eat well and stay fit
Instill the Rotary Values in future generations
Listening
Learning
To get to tomorrow
Almost NINE billion of us - Responsibility to us or the planet?
The lively discussion instigated us to think about these many important matters!
Peter told a story about “a walk in the park” which became a life or death ordeal.
It began as a modest hike to a peak near Lake Tahoe, going light with just his dog. He took a worng trail descending and things became progressively dire. It got very dicey for man and dog but in the end they survived. He concluded the tale by observing that these are the moments that make you ask what is life about, what is important and what are my responsibilities?
From his privileged perspective (assuming one has water, food, sleep) his answer is education, continuing to learn. We are living in unprecedented times, semi Orwellian, stimulating Big Questions. We better have open minds and be able to think critically. Thinking with our own mind must be our own Socrates who went about Athens talking to all about their beliefs. When put on trial Socrates said “I am a gadfly being sure we are all free thinking citizens.” He was sentenced to death. He responded that “an unexamined life is not worth living.”
HIstory, moral philosophy and eloquence were embraced by our country’s Founding Fathers whose concept of the USA was that we could maintain Democracy because we have free minds to guide us…not high jacked. The mortal danger is the weakness to just be told what to think.
Peter told a story about “a walk in the park” which became a life or death ordeal.
It began as a modest hike to a peak near Lake Tahoe, going light with just his dog. He took a worng trail descending and things became progressively dire. It got very dicey for man and dog but in the end they survived. He concluded the tale by observing that these are the moments that make you ask what is life about, what is important and what are my responsibilities?
From his privileged perspective (assuming one has water, food, sleep) his answer is education, continuing to learn. We are living in unprecedented times, semi Orwellian, stimulating Big Questions. We better have open minds and be able to think critically. Thinking with our own mind must be our own Socrates who went about Athens talking to all about their beliefs. When put on trial Socrates said “I am a gadfly being sure we are all free thinking citizens.” He was sentenced to death. He responded that “an unexamined life is not worth living.”
HIstory, moral philosophy and eloquence were embraced by our country’s Founding Fathers whose concept of the USA was that we could maintain Democracy because we have free minds to guide us…not high jacked. The mortal danger is the weakness to just be told what to think.
It began as a modest hike to a peak near Lake Tahoe, going light with just his dog. He took a worng trail descending and things became progressively dire. It got very dicey for man and dog but in the end they survived. He concluded the tale by observing that these are the moments that make you ask what is life about, what is important and what are my responsibilities?
From his privileged perspective (assuming one has water, food, sleep) his answer is education, continuing to learn. We are living in unprecedented times, semi Orwellian, stimulating Big Questions. We better have open minds and be able to think critically. Thinking with our own mind must be our own Socrates who went about Athens talking to all about their beliefs. When put on trial Socrates said “I am a gadfly being sure we are all free thinking citizens.” He was sentenced to death. He responded that “an unexamined life is not worth living.”
HIstory, moral philosophy and eloquence were embraced by our country’s Founding Fathers whose concept of the USA was that we could maintain Democracy because we have free minds to guide us…not high jacked. The mortal danger is the weakness to just be told what to think.
CLUB MEETING, April 3, 2025
.Pledge of Allegiance
Inspirational Thought - “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill
Sharise McHugh reports on this year’s successful Life Skills, thanking all the participants who made it possible
John Evans reports that we will be hosting an exchange student from Sardinia
Drew’s position with the School District has morphed to overseeing School Bond
Guests
Announcements and News -
Charise McHugh reports on this year’s successful Life Skills, thanking all the participants who made it possible
John Evans reports that we will be hosting an exchange student from Sardinia
Drew’s position with the School District has morphed to overseeing School Bond
Pres. Irwin's Weekly Quiz - President Irwin Cohen’s Quiz was correctly answered by Dianne Bobko to win a Moonside Bakery Chocolate Fudge Brownie…the answer was Gregory Peck.
Marble Game - N/A
Photo Gallery - N/A