The White Glove District Conference challenge
District Governor Ric Robertson and PDG Pat visited our club recently and Ric presented President Alison with a white glove. The white glove comes with a challenge - to bring to the conference your understanding of the reason that a white glove is presented to each of the 62 clubs in the District. The only clue is that the District Convention 2008 will be held in leap year.
The gloves are off - our challenge is to come up with the best possible reasons for the great glove mystery. Is it just a cover-up? Who is pointing finger here? Is this a sign of a digital revolution? Is the DG an Al Jolson fan? Is this a Prostate cancer promotional gimic - or is it your turn to do the dishes?
Post your ideas to this web site using the 'Comments' tab below.
posted by Richard Grimmett @ 8:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
So D.G. Ric gave us a white glove. In other words he threw out a challenge for next years District Conference which begins on February 29th which just happens to be a once in four year phenomena ; leap year of 2008
Leap Year has been the traditional time that women can propose marriage. In many of today's cultures, it is okay for a woman to propose marriage to a man. Society doesn't look down on such women. However, that hasn't always been the case. When the rules of courtship were stricter, women were only allowed to pop the question on one day every four years. That day was February 29th.
St. Bridget's Complaint
It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. According to legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day in February during the leap year.
February 29th in English Law
According to English law, February 29th was ignored and had no legal status.
Folks assumed that traditions would also have no status on that day. It was also reasoned that since the leap year day existed to fix a problem in the calendar, it could also be used to fix an old and unjust custom that only let men propose marriage.
The first documentation of this practice dates back to 1288, when Scotland passed a law that allowed women to propose marriage to the man of their choice in that year. They also made it law that any man who declined a proposal in a leap year must pay a fine. The fine could range from a kiss to payment for a silk dress or a pair of gloves.
So Ric is of Scottish descent, you all noticed the waist coat he wore the other night that was a special licensed tartan designed for the Rotary International conference held in Glasgow early this century. As he boasts a strong Scottish connection I believe that he is referring to the Scottish leap year proposal refusal law of 1288. These questions remain to be answered;
a) Is he proposing to all of us? If so what about the blokes in the club?
b) Why has he given us only one glove
➢ Does that mean he fears rejection already?
➢ He is only half hearted?
➢ Doesn’t really love us anyway?
➢ He is a cheapskate?
Could go on for ever what we need is club input to solve this pressing problem
Remember every idea is a good idea; don’t hold back!!
Cheers,
Marg. Campbell
Marg
I can only assume that reason that the DG (a male) only gave us one glove is that we should expect to get hit by someone (probably a female) with the other one !
Coral
Could the white glove be like a white flag - a peace offering - the difference being that a white gloved hand would shake the hand of the enemy.
The 29th February is a special day every four years ( and my grandson's birthday)when we have a special oppertunity to offer the hand of peace and friendship to those who are hostile to us for whatever reason.
Maybe it is an attempt to have one day of world peace every four years.
Only a pair of gloves can avoid the "penalty" on 29th. February, so "we" must pair up with another Club to avoid that "penalty"..
The 4 fingers could symbolise the 4 way test...
The white glove symbolises the friendly hand of Rotary.
We give the "right hand of fellowship" to new members.
We present a friendly, supportive "hand" to people around the world.
We provide a "helping hand to those in need"
We should be "hands on" in our activities and support.
The white glove symbolises this very important aspect of Rotary and is in fact central to what Rotary stands for.
Geoff Chandler
White gloves are used to handle relics of the past. Are Rotarians relics that need to handled with white gloves?
White gloves are a sign of servitude and clearly Rotarians have 'Service above Self".
However, the white glove presented to the club clearly wasn't meant to get dirty and surely one of the major roles of Rotary is to be prepared to get 'dirty' to help people.
So what does the White Glove really mean?
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