A R C H I V E

I love this phrase; it's pregnant with potential and the ultimate definition of Yin and Yang.

My yoga and meditation teacher used to tell me “if you want to be born again, you must be willing to die first.”

But no matter how many times I go through the cycles of death and rebirth, gain and loss, boom and bust, I never get used to the brutality of the destruction, pain, heartache and suffering it entails. At the intellectual level, we all know the forest fire burns the deadwood and creates nutrition and light for the next generation of trees, but if you have ever gotten close to a forest fire, you know how scary it is.

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Ludwig van Beethoven composed Symphony No. 9 in D minor ten years after he went deaf. First performed in Vienna on May 7, 1824, the symphony is regarded by many as Beethoven's greatest work; a supreme achievement in the history of western music, it is used as the anthem of the European Union.

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Since our inception, City Club’s vision has been to create “a safe place for passionate and caring people to explore our differences, find our common ground, and make our world a better place, while having fun."

With Coronavirus forcing us to self isolate, restaurants and pools closed, summer vacations postponed, concerts canceled, riots in the streets and economic hardship ahead, fun is proving to be a rare commodity. Since this phase of life may turn out to be more of a marathon than a hundred yard dash, we have decided we better start integrating some merrymaking into the mix, or we may easily turn into a bunch of bores.

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With Coronavirus ravaging the globe, riots in the streets and a potential economic calamity upon us, once again the ancient wounds of racial prejudice and inequality are being exposed within the fabric of our society.

Born into a Jewish family in a Muslim country and educated by Jesuit teachers, I have first hand experience of the damage caused by race and religious prejudice. However, before losing hope for the future of humanity, it is important to remember human evolution is in its early stages. Less than 150 years after fighting a bloody civil war to end slavery, America elected a Black President; this week the Senate confirmed the first Black American Airforce Chief of Staff.

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Fifteen years after the launch of Highland City Club, and finally feeling secure about its social and financial success, we find our society in the grip of a pandemic. Yet, we are determined now is the time for City Club to finally launch the long-envisioned and much-discussed Highland Institute.

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Think Egypt 3500 years ago; Athens 2500 years ago; Jerusalem 2000 years ago; Florence 500 years ago, or Philadelphia 250 years ago.

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The Coronavirus has forced many of us to stay at home, giving us plenty of time to examine our lives, and the actions we will take going forward when this winter of despair turns into the spring of hope.

Was the corporate ladder we were climbing before Coronavirus leaning against the wrong structure? Are we more afraid of not living and loving fully, than dying from the virus? Does all that we have worked for so hard own us more than we own it? Are we free men and women or slaves to our worldly needs?

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75 years ago this week, the Allies brought the Nazi threat to an end, with resolve, tenacity, creativity, and leaders who knew they must work together to succeed. With over 16 million Americans in uniform and at a cost of $4 Trillion in today’s currency, WWII proved America is capable of paying the price to keep the lights on in the metaphoric shining city on the hill.

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Death and dying, life and living are natural cycles. The Bible explores seven year cycles of prosperity and famine, and forty year cycles of slavery and freedom. Our recent Member Monday discussions have revolved around the topic of eighty year cycles as outlined in The Fourth Turning.

Wars, pandemics, famine, economic depressions, political revolutions and failed states are just a few triggers that end stale cycles and start fresh new ones. Since these cycles have been with us throughout history, the question is, what is the best strategy to deal with them.

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For many years City Club has been envisioning, discussing and taking small steps to launch Highland Institute, without really knowing what our desired institute should look and act like. But each once in a while we get a glimpse of what’s possible, a light bulb goes on, a sigh is heard, and a piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Right after death, we are more afraid of an uncertain future than anything else. To create a Secures Locus, or a safe place for our members, we strive to bring meaning, if not order, into the universal chaos we all have to deal with. For those of you who missed it, last week’s topic of Steve Smith’s Monday Member lunch was A Post-Pandemic World.

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The Jews are a peculiar people. Mark Twain said “The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains."

So what is the secret to survival and what’s unique about Spring, when every religion celebrates survival and resurrection? What lessons can we learn from millennials of hardship, from world wars to pandemics, from revolutions to economic depressions, to help us survive and thrive the Coronavirus?!

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We love the art at Highland because it gives us visual clues how to live our daily lives.

The Buddha head at Highland’s east entry with green moss growing on it reminds us to calm down and breath before we enter the building to start work. But hidden in the bushes there is a Pan sculpture to remind us chaos is the order of the universe, and that today's concept of “72-and-sunny” as the norm is an illusion that can be shattered at any moment.

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When I came to America at the age of 17, I could read a bit of English, but could not speak much of it.

Since I was a budding intellectual of sorts in my native language of Farsi, memorizing Rumi and Hafiz poetry as a child, I decided to compromise by going to engineering school, since I could speak the universal language of mathematics, and secure a list of the top hundred books of Western culture, hoping that by reading them on my own, it would make me an intellectual!

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In my 67 years on this planet I’ve seen many shocks to the system: from bloody revolutions that have brought down entrenched dictators, to the fall of the once mighty Soviet Union; from Great Recessions and economic meltdowns to commandeered jets flying into our power centers. So here is my take on the global pandemic we are living through.

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May we who are merely inconvenienced

Remember those whose lives are at stake.

May we who have no risk factors

Remember those most vulnerable.

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Fifteen years ago, on March 21, 2005, on the first day of Spring, and Persian New Year, we opened the doors to City Club with construction dust still on the floors and paintings, and 36 brave members who were curious to learn what we were up to. We had no idea what we were doing then, and are still not clear where we are headed now, though we have a few good ideas we are experimenting with.

It has been a long and arduous journey, but in the process, we breathed new life into Highland, and in return, built ourselves a community of passionate and caring people who believe black sheep need a tribe too.

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