Weekly Optimist Meeting 10-24-2019

WHY?

Bob Sheridan started by reminding us of the vast and incomprehensible nature of the universe and then lead us in a prayer of gratitude to our Maker and for the world he gave us to inhabit, acknowledging how little of it we understand, but that we trust in Him to always guide and protect us. George Kunberger kicked off the Pledge of Allegiance.

GUESTS
We had two guests this morning. Dave Jones our guest and speaker and Don Crawford’s buddy from New Orleans, who also happens to be Erin Downey’s dad.

JUST REPORTING WHAT I HEARD
The two smiling Optimists pictured above Mike Lavin and George Bassola were graciuos voluteers for Bill Parry and the Dingmaster who showed up at 6:00 AM to pass off their greeter responsibility so they could run off to some important meeting. I thought I heard them say something about Tijuana, but I might be wrong.

PRESIDENT’S ANNOUNCEMENTS

Lawn Bowling: The second practice session for the upcoming match with the Rotarians is next Tuesday 5-7 PM. We had only six people at the first practice and we need some more folks to make a good showing. The match is on Nov 2. It’s a fun day. All the pizza and beer you can drink (well maybe not all). The cost for the refreshments is just $5. So a real deal. Don’t miss it. Contact is Bill Carinder billcarinder@yahoo.com.

CLUB ANNOUNCEMENTS

Strand Clean Up was lighted supported by the Optimist Club (3 folks showed up) and we had to rely heavily on the Jr ROTC group from the high school to get the job done

Prayer Leaders; Contact Charlie Ahren at ahren@msn.com or find the signup sheet at the next meeting.

School Liaisons; Jim Jamison, as our new external VP, is looking for volunteers to be liaisons with the many school groups we support.

Coronado Film Festival Volunteers needed: Mark Blumenthal has a sign up sheet going around for volunteers to help decorate the sidewalk with stars as part of the upcoming Film Festival.

Coronado Round Table Talk; Tomorrow 10:00 in the Winn room, Coffee at 9:45. Speaker is Tom Morelli who will speak on Prison Ministry in San Diego County

John Brassert: is recovering at Plaza Village in National City. He’ll be there for about three weeks. So if you have a chance stop in and wish him well.

Halloween Happening is tomorrow from 3-5:30. Volunteers still needed. Contact Dianna.

GUEST SPEAKER

Our speaker today was Dave Jones who gave a talk on “asking the right questions about mental health”. Dave, in a light moment introduced himself as a member of a drinking club in North County that happens to have a Rotarian problem. He also noted that he has no professional credentials for talking on this subject, but he was wearing a jacket, so he looked professional. This was all meant to be a light hearted introduction to a very serious and somber presentation on why people commit suicide and sometimes take others with them.

Dave started by sharing with us his own story of mental illness in his family that went back to his grandfather and then his father, that eventually lead to Dave loosing both his mother and father in one tragic event (due to his father’s severe mental illness) when he was still a small boy. He also shared a story of a local family (son and mother) who were both killed as a result of the son’s mental illness. Then of course, we are all too failure with the rash of mass shootings that often end in the suicide of the shooter. All of this human suffering is the result of mental illness, and mental illness is one of the fasting growing causes of death in the US.

In sharing these stories, Dave was illustrating that whenever these tragedies occur, our first reaction is to ask “Why Did This Happen?”. This is a normal human reaction to try and explain how tragic things happen. However the facts are that there is rarely an answer to this question In the mentally ill mind, driven to suicide and murder, what healthy people would consider rational thoughts, just are not there.

Dave’s point here, was to suggest that we (society) should not simply be asking why did this recent tragedy happen. We should be asking WHY to a much broader spectrum of issues, that get at the heart of treating and healing mental illness. To address the illness before it ever evolves into someone feeling they have no alternative but to commit suicide. Some of the WHY questions Dave suggested we should be asking are:

• Why do 50% of the people in prison have mental illness?
• Why are 80% of people in prison for drug related crimes?
• Why do we spend so much on cancer research and so little on mental health?
• Why can’t we eliminate the stigma associated with mental illness?
• In some parts of the developing parts of the world, despite a lack of many basic necessities the suicide rate is very low. Why can’t many people in the US face the reality of their situation.
• Why do people consider suicide victims to be selfish, when they are really very ill? There is a lack of understanding of the underlying issues
• Why are we continually shocked when someone commit’s suicide?
• Why are so many people in the US treated today with antidepressants and often do not seek therapy?
• Why don’t we talk about mental illness?
• Why are we not aware of the signs of mental illness
• We should consider mental illness as a cancer in the brain. We would not have brain cancer treated, but we often don’t treat mental illness?

Dave is also a member of the San Diego Suicide Prevention Council and we want to thank Dave very much for his service to the community and for the very personal and meaningful talk this morning.

History Lesson