March Reflection: Desmond Tutu

On Saturday night, March 21st, we gathered at Rozanne, Michael and Shaina's for our March Reflection. The topic this time centered on the quotes of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. As always we enjoyed the food, and Rozanne's special touch made it out of this world. Her beet salad, carrot salad, homemade hummus, rosemary chicken, yogurt dip and especially the secret recipe wine cake were fabulous. Michael acted as our bartender serving wine and soda, and Shaina greeted guests and took their coats.

In the opening go-around, Rozanne shared that through the BHC she has begun visiting hospice patients at the Visiting Nurse Service Hospice, and that she finds the work enormously satisfying. I also reported that while I was not medically cleared to visit patients, I asked to work with veterans, and the volunteer coordinator has assigned a World War II veteran to me, for periodic telephone calls.

Constance provided the quotes and gave us a short biography of Desmond Tutu. We circled the room reading his quotes aloud, and then gave our resonances and reflections on the ones that spoke to us. I mentioned that a professor in college had said something rather similar to Tutu's statement about neutrality as an inappropriate response where there is injustice and a grave imbalance of power. Antoinette pointed out Archbishop Tutu's statement that everyone is entitled to a stable community and that the first of these communities is the family. Many of us contributed our thoughts to the reflective conversation, and Kurt provided us with his insights into Integral Spirituality.

As we decided at the recent membership meeting, people brought nonperishables to be donated to a local food pantry.

It was a delightful evening. Kudos to Rozanne, Michael and Shaina for their hospitality, and our thanks as well to Constance and Kurt for running another excellent Reflection.

Book Club Discussion: Not Me

At Sheila's this afternoon we discussed the novel Not Me by Michael Lavigne. The major question was whether Heinrich/Heschel, the S.S. bookkeeper who changed his identity to that of a Jew who died in the camps, deserved redemption.

I gave him partial redemption because even though his hatred was pretty ugly, I believed that at some point he felt remorse. I felt that his philanthropy went beyond what was necessary to avoid detection and that maybe he had grasped the evil of his previous identity.

In all, though, a majority of the group did not feel he ever really got beyond his initial hateful feelings even though he did come to care for two of the Jews he met in Israel. So even though he became a philanthropist they felt he was just trying to get into God's good graces and not really feeling genuine remorse for aiding and abetting in the Holocaust.

As usual it was a lively discussion with many different viewpoints. Kudos to Sheila for leading such great guided conversations. Next month on April 19th we'll be discussing The Secret Lives of Bees.

BHC March Board Meeting

At our March meeting, the BHC Board began discussing the incorporation process. Our attorney-contact at Wilmer Hale had raised the question of whether we preferred to incorporate in New York or Delaware, and provided us with the pros and cons.

We decided that it made the most sense to incorporate in New York since we intend to be a Brooklyn-based organization.

Next, we formed a task force to work on the tax exemption forms at the next Board meeting. In April we will meet on two consecutive Tuesdays, April 7th and April 14th, in order to work on the forms and the necessary budgets.

BHC has a productive, working board and it's a pleasure to serve on it with Tony, Bruce, Adriana and Michael.

BHC Membership Meeting

On Saturday evening, March 7th, BHC members gathered at Ruth S.'s apartment for a semi-annual general membership meeting. We received an update on the progress of our efforts to incorporate and our search for a permanent venue.

Three of our members completed the volunteer training for the veterans in hospice project with the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, and one is already actively visiting hospice patients. One member suggested we do some work on Alzheimer's. We also agreed to begin collecting nonperishables to send to food pantries, which are hurting for donations due to the economic downturn.

Bruce, our Treasurer, reported that 13 members have already paid their annual dues in part or in full. During the meeting several members handed in dues, bringing us up over the threshold we needed to begin the incorporation process. Thanks to all who have contributed, and full speed ahead!