A SONGS FOR PEACE MESSAGE OF PEACE, AND FRIENDSHIP

There’s still something to be said for old-fashioned friendliness as a way to meet interesting new people.  That’s how I met Rotarian Richard “Titch” Harrison many years ago. He visited Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, IL USA often, where I was a staff member.  Our mutual interest in Rotary’s founder, Paul Harris, drew us together, and has led to a lasting friendship.

Titch actually met Paul Harris personally in 1944, as a young Navy officer during a visit to “Rotary One”—the first Rotary club, which was founded by Harris in Chicago, in 1905.  In Rotary-speak, that’s the equivalent of meeting someone who met George Washington!

Titch, 94, also served as a Navy lieutenant during WWII.  He was stationed in Pearl Harbor during the attack, but fortunately his ship—the USS Lexington—was out at sea that day. However, Titch and his crew weren’t as lucky in the Battle of the Coral Sea (the one that saved Australia.)  Though “The Lex” was hit and sunk-- thankfully, Titch has a Purple Heart and (not so thankfully) a spinal injury to show for it. (You can learn more about Titch and his Navy and Rotary days, in his own words, at: http://www.rotaryfirst100.org/clubs/rotaryone/historian/bio.htm)

Last week I introduced Titch to young Navy Lt., Maxwell Anini, who is stationed at Great Lakes Naval Base, in Illinois.  I’d met Maxwell recently, at a little neighborhood jewelry store, where we were both getting new batteries for our watches.  He was in uniform (in a color that I didn't recognize), so I started a conversation with him and the Navy connection led me to tell him about Titch.  Maxwell said he’d like to meet him… “Our generation owes so much to theirs.”  And so we had a lovely lunch at Titch and Elaine Harrison’s Evanston apartment.  

Maxwell, 38, in his full white dress uniform, was a real-life “officer and a gentleman.” He seemed to bring out the former Naval officer in Titch too, who greatly enjoyed the company of a true comrade.  Maxwell told us that he was from Ghana, and had moved to America when he was 18.  He joined the Navy two years later, and recalled, “That’s where I learned about the real America. Everyone spoke with a different accent, in the Navy.  I’d thought that all Americans spoke the same…"

As our wonderful lunch drew to a close, Maxwell noted that, "The world would be a better place if we could all focus more on how we are the same, than how we are different.”

Amen.  May the international language of music help bring the world together in a community of peace.

                                                                        Candy Isaac

                                                                        Songs For Peace

Former U.S. Navy Lt. Richard "Titch" Harrison (left) and U.S. Navy Lt. Maxwell Anini (Above)