The Path of Sacrifice

He will strive always to promote peace between nations and will be prepared to make personal sacrifices for that ideal.

(From the Outline of Policy in International Service.)

IN 1958 The Saturday Review published a one-page article in the form of a contest announcement.  In big and bold type the headline proclaimed:

WORLD-WIDE COMPETITION

$1,000,000,000,000

IN TAX-FREE PRIZES

Then the details followed:

YOU ARE ALREADY ENTERED –

If your name begins with A, B, C, etc., or with ∆, ф, Θ, etc., or if you live in the U.S.A. , Russia , France , etc., you are already entered in this competition.  Your children, and their children-to-be, are entered.

THE PRIZES –

The prizes, conservatively valued at $1,000,000,000,000, include the following:

A five-mile thick layer of pure, non-radioactive air.

Cities consisting of buildings, not rubble.

Water reservoirs not contaminated with fall-out.

Farmlands capable of growing edible food.

Your home, car, TV set (and incidentally your life) –

And various extras, such as unlimited energy from the

Atom and perhaps interplanetary travel.

Then, a bit later this bombshell:

How to Withdraw from the Competition: You Can’t

EVER.

And, finally –

If You Want to Win: Help Find a Firm Road to Lasting Peace.

In the previous chapter it was pointed out that the path of justice leads inevitably to the path of sacrifice.  It must be apparent, first, that even to speak of peace entails and element of sacrifice.  At some time, and, for a few people, the word peace has become tarnished with guilt by association – a mask for subversion, tyranny, and aggression.  Beware, they say, of those who cry “peace, peace” when there is no peace.

Perhaps this bitter feeling only reflects in an extreme form the general disappointment with the sequel to the second world war.  So much had been taken for granted.  There had been an unconditional surrender.  Now there was peace, and folks could go about their business and enjoy themselves and leave the diplomats to worry about “foreign affairs”.

Speaking to a Rotary club in England , an American ambassador put it this way:

I went to the last war as many of you did, and I really believed we were fighting a war to end wars, and that we were fighting for democracy, and that our children would reap some of the benefit of the sacrifice made by our generation … We did not really care enough in the intervening years.  If we cared enough, we did not do enough or get enough done.  It is rarely in the world’s history that men get a second chance; and we have got a second chance.

What thoughtful observer of international service could not echo these sentiments and apply them to himself?  They ring so true in this hour of history.

The last war came close to destroying civilization.  Hunger and humiliation, social and economic disruption, the vacuum left by the defeated powers – all combined to produce a time of trouble and tension.  Those who thought of peace as the end of a fairy tale where “they all lived happily ever after” were cruelly deceived.  The cartoons which represented peace as an angel or a bride prepared the public mind for bitter disillusionment.  On the contrary, peace should have been portrayed as the bride in real life – as a working girl with a tremendous job on her hands, compelled to “work at her marriage”, as the counselors say, if it were to be a success.

This concept of peace as a summons to work rather than a license for personal irresponsibility is made quite explicit in the Outline of Policy with its call for personal sacrifices.  But perhaps it was never driven home more poignantly than in the last public address of that valiant worker for international friendship, the late John Winant.  Breaking into his prepared speech, he asked his audience abruptly:

“Are you giving as much today for peace as you gave for this country in the days of war?”

There was a pause before and after he spoke his own quiet answer:

“I am not.”

Anyone looking back over the years since the war might so examine himself.  In time of war, the urge to sacrifice is omnipresent, and personal efforts are measured by those who “give the last full measure of devotion”.  For purposes of destruction, the finest and most generous in human nature is expended.  To save his country from destruction, however, and to secure peace, freedom, and the survival of all he holds dear, man is under no such compulsion.  

Does this make sense?

Perhaps the extraordinary sacrifices of wartime are explained by the fact that many people respond best in a crisis.  The exceptional and abnormal call forth the heroic in man.  But is war the exception in human experience?  History suggests the opposite conclusion.  Over the sum of years, the abnormal experience has been the brief intervals of peace.  Even the nineteenth century, which gave birth to the illusion of peace as a normal condition, was filled with little wars.  In the twentieth, periods when the whole world was at peace can be measured only in months, not in years.

People in earlier ages might reflect that war, after all, was the business of a few knights or professional soldiers on isolated battlefields.  During the Wars of the Roses, for example, at the moment when a battle was about to begin, the hue and cry of a hunt arose, and the armies withheld their attack while the fox, the hounds, and huntsmen streamed between them.  Then they took up their own grim pastime.

If war was ever in fact so gentlemanly in its conduct, its nature has been utterly changed in modern times.  War has become total, mobilizing entire peoples and their resources, aiming at total destruction.  None can count himself immune.  There is no place to hide.  There are no more civilians.  Children will become “combatants”, the same as their elders.

Do not these circumstances demand a revised concept of war and peace?  The late Albert Einstein, the mathematical genius who fathered the atomic age, projected the issue on the broadest scale and in the bluntest terms:

A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels.

Often in evolutionary processes a species must adapt to new conditions in order to survive.  Today the atomic bomb has altered profoundly the nature of the world as we know it.

The tank is a defense against bullets but there is no defense in science against the weapon which can destroy civilization.

Our defense is not in armaments nor in going underground.

Our defense is in law and order.  In the light of new knowledge, the human race must adapt its thinking.

There is no easy optimism in the mood of the Rotarian who strives to promote peace, to halt and reverse the normal drift into war.  He is disillusioned with cheap panaceas.  He is a realist.  He knows that victory in this struggle will not be won by subscribing to some pressure group or by passing a resolution in his club.  The Rotarian must ask himself what personal sacrifices are required of him and his fellow men if mankind is to survive and move to higher levels.

Can anyone answer for him?  Obviously, no, though he can be fortified and inspired through consultation with other earnest men.  Ultimately, the answer must come from his own private conscience and be made manifest in his individual action.  Here, only a few forms of sacrifice will be suggested as background for deliberation and discussion.

First, and perhaps most obvious of all, is the kind that falls at present on every taxpayer and burdens the economy of the entire world to the tune of $120,000,000,000 (£43,000,000,000) a year.  In the wealthiest country of the world, “peace through strength” exacts a personal sacrifice from the average taxpayer equivalent to a month’s salary.  “Who desires peace, prepares for war” was the justification of this policy in ancient Rome .  A most vigorous exposition of it in the twentieth century was given by a famous admiral:

I am not for war, I am for peace.  If you rub it in both at home and abroad that you are ready for instant action with every unit of your strength in the front line and intend to be first in and hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil your prisoners in oil if you take any, and torture his women and children, then people will keep clear of you.

Will they?  This ancient form of sacrifice which is still so fashionable has not prevented wars.  It has enhanced general insecurity, fomented an arms race and, finally, brought the use of the great deterrents – yesterday the admiral’s dreadnaughts, tomorrow the guided missiles with hydrogen war-heads.  Never was this policy more scathingly denounce than by the president of one country which had adopted it:

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.  This world in arms is not spending money alone.  It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than thirty cities.  It is two fine and fully equipped hospitals. 

And so on to the conclusion:

This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.  This is not a way of life at all in a true sense.  Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.

If in one fell swoop the plague of war could be eradicated, what could a comparable amount of money, energy, and genius accomplish for mankind?  The thought taxes the imagination!  Is it possible in the wildest dream to conceive what $120,000 million (£43,000 million) a year could do, harnessed to policies of peace and service?  Now, it is as if humanity were struggling up the stairs of civilization on one leg.

The path of sacrifice may indeed lead head-on into strongly entrenched traditions; there are those – and in large numbers – who say that history repeats itself, that today’s humanity is no better than its forebears.  “Wars and rumors of wars” there will always be.  One answer is that our forebears were not attracted to the path of sacrifice, either; nor were they in the posture of Atomic-Age man.  The real answer, however, has been given by another military man who states unequivocally that what mankind now requires is “an attack on the institution of war itself”.  A Rotarian from South America has put it this way:

In accord with the object of Rotary, we should look into the deeper causes of war and of the diabolical motives that move men to kill each other; what statism impels them to do, what they abhor, and which they recognize as abominable and in contradiction of our ideal of service above self. … What is proposed is in no sense impossible nor calling for a superior intelligence, but an absolute necessity.  The time to act is now.

Another Rotarian has stated: “Ours is a man-sized task which must be approached with the kind of genius and effort which went into the first atomic bomb … Civilization cannot support two – or more – armed camps forever on the brink of nuclear catastrophe.”  Peace by terror or deterrent force in which belligerents threaten each other from week to week can lead only one place – to nuclear war.

A hunter of big game in Africa was getting close to his prey when, to his chagrin, his hard-pressed guides suddenly sat down to rest.  He protested loudly, but to no avail.   He threatened, pleaded, offered bribes – but the guides sat fanning under a tree.  “But why,” he implored the leader, “must you stop now?”

The guide answered with a wry smile.  “Men say they have hurried so fast their bodies have run off and left their souls.  Must wait for souls to catch up.”

The breathless quest for power, wealth, influence and better technology has taken men – and nations – far into the jungle.  Now, in this lag of culture and law, they need to pause for their souls to catch up.  Nations are like children with guns in their hands.  A child must be taught rules and laws; it would be unthinkable to send a six-year-old to school with a loaded rifle – but even a child understands why a policeman must carry a gun.

“It is impossible to imagine the heights to which may be carried, in a thousand years, the power of man over matter,” wrote Benjamin Franklin.  “O, that moral science were in as fair a way to improvement, that men would cease to be wolves to one another.”

This is a gigantic arena for sacrifice – this imperative quest for a “break-through” in social science to match the achievements of technology.  What matters it that men span the oceans at the speed of sound if, when they face their neighbors, they have nothing to say?  Into this vacuum comes the missile or hydrogen war-head.  Into this setting comes prejudice, ignorance, superstition – and tyranny.  Man’s pressing problems now are in the domain of the spirit – the “inner space” of human personality.

This new orientation toward the “inner man” demands the expenditure of greater resources and competence in the search for the deeper meanings of life.  It means that research must be applied with equal vigor to man and machine – to the spiritual and the material.  It means creating a new climate of adventure in human affairs to match the challenge of a rocket trip to outer space.  It means that the quest for ways to link man to man and nation to nation must become as urgent as the quest to link earth with the moon.

Another area of sacrifice is the movement to get nations to put away their guns and solve their differences as law-abiding men.  The goal is to seek an agreement between the arming nations to end the arms race – an undertaking far easier to propose than to accomplish.  Who will sacrifice what?  And what assurance can be given to disarming nations that other nations will fulfill their agreements?  This opens up the Pandora’s box of mutual inspection, the ability to detect, and the right to curtail the power of those who do not comply.

In a fable, the great beasts gather in the jungle to discuss disarmament.  “Let us show our common enemy, man,” said the lion, “how to live in peace together.  If we set an example, perhaps he will cease to hunt and slay us.”

“What do you propose?” inquired the bear.

The lion looked at the eagle.  “Abolish wings,” he suggested.

The eagle looked at the bull.  “Destroy horns,” he proposed.

The bull looked at the lion.  “Get rid of teeth and claws,” he demanded.

There was silence for a moment.  All were staring at the bear.  “I advise the elimination of all forms of defense,” he said quietly.  “In this way, each of you can have the security of my loving arms.”

Any program of disarmament involves sacrifices.  If great powers agree to disarm, they give up being great powers.  No longer can they impress their views on other nations by threat of force.  If they want to make sure that other nations are fulfilling their pledges, they, too, have to submit to measures of control.  For some people, these concessions of authority and prestige are a deeply personal sacrifice.  While other nations may welcome restraint of the great powers, feeling that their own stature is increased by removal of the threat of force, they may find that they have incurred increased responsibilities thereby.  They may have to renounce a cherished neutrality and provide armed forces for the common defense.  Disarmament may involve sacrifice also for the peoples of lesser powers.

Yet who would deny that such sacrifices are more than justified if they can help to prevent the horror of a third world war?  The question is rather: are such sacrifices enough?

The answer is – no!  In fact, the foregoing sacrifices become pure theory unless they are predicated upon a deeper and more significant kind of sacrifice – personal sacrifice.  It is in the arena of individual, person-to-person relationships that true sacrifice begins.  And it must begin here – and it must grow here, until the level of national leadership is raised and the vision of statesmen becomes the reflection of enlightened public opinion.  Woodrow Wilson put it well: “The processes of liberty are that if I am your leader, you should talk to me, not that if I am your leader I should talk to you.  I must listen, if I be true to the pledges of leadership, to the voices out of every hamlet, from every sort and condition of men.”

Yet, the simple process of making one’s voice heard is a sacrifice – more so in some places than in other, but there is bitter irony in the fact that in the places where it is easiest and most expected, it is a sacrifice too great to be endured.  Why should I bother?  Who cares what I think, anyway?  I’m too busy.  The politicians make all the decisions.

But the process of making one’s voice a reasonable sound, based on knowledge, discussion, and insight is an even more challenging one.  How much easier it is to get an “expert” to speak to the Rotary club than to dig into the facts and present the subject yourself?  Granted a willingness to present it yourself, how much easier to give a lecture – your own opinions and your selection of facts – than to attempt to lead a spirited discussion in which a barrage of opinions may be laid down at you.

An into-their-shoes conference, previously mentioned, may take much time and study for several weeks on the part of the participants, but where one has been held it has raised the level of understanding of world affairs to an appreciable degree.  If such study and debate were going on all around the world, who can estimate the values which could accrue?  Yet, this illustrates that all such enterprises entail personal sacrifice of the hardest kind – the kind which steals from personal preoccupation with television-viewing, dancing lessons, parties, theatre-going, painting the basement, or building a boat.

Pericles said: “We do not allow absorption in our own affairs to interfere with participation in the city’s; we yield to none in independence of spirit and complete self-reliance, but we regard him who holds aloof from public affairs as useless.”  And the Greeks had a word for the “useless” man, a “private” citizen, idiotes, from which the English word “idiot” comes.

This leads to another kind of personal sacrifice: the realization that our point of view may not be the right one, that the facts with which we are surrounded may be tainted with propaganda, that our culture may have something to learn from another culture.  To many persons, this is the ultimate blow –the blow to personal and national pride.  It is incredible to the superficial observer that the principles he has embraced, that the way of life he has accepted, may be almost unrecognizable in the next generation – that indeed its very base may be swept away and society may possibly be the better for it.

This is a bitter dose to swallow, but such resiliency in the human spirit may make the path of sacrifice much easier to follow.  With all the achievements of their civilization, the Greeks must have understood this well.  For thousands of years the trophy, or monument, has been the symbol of victory, and these trophies have reflected in their structure and substance the natural materials of the land.  In Egypt , where stone was plentiful, the monument would be a slab or tablet engraved with the glorious record; farther east, it was sand, heaped high or in unusual shapes, perhaps with severed heads or bones.  In Greece the substance was wood, out of which the victor might form his trophy or monument.  But it was not permitted to be repaired!  So, the victor always understood that it would soon decay and rot away, even as he vanquished his foe or as he erected his monument.  The only permanent thing, he well knew, was impermanence.

Such an attitude does not imply vacillation or lack of objectives.  It is not a peace-at-any-price doctrine, as the record of the Greeks demonstrates.  Such an attitude, however, creates perspective, and perspective is one of the guideposts along the path of sacrifice.

The paths of justice and sacrifice merge here, but a discussion of attitudes which lead to sacrifice would be incomplete without another reference to a foremost dilemma of this atomic age.  Even though the threat of annihilation were abolished, another problem emerges laden with potential disaster.  Misery and ignorance in the less developed lands provide a paradise for the agitator, for the ambitious individual, or for the nation seeking to gain power by fishing in troubled waters.  Armed force cannot restrain the insurgent, for sooner or later he becomes armed.  Yet, national disarmament and control of the great powers are of themselves no solution unless a new order can be established to encourage the hopes and win the allegiance of these emerging millions.

The crux of the matter here is: Who are these emerging millions?  Ignorant savages who should be let alone?  Potential laborers in a regimented technocracy?  Soldiers marching in a bigger and more destructive army?  Pawns in the game of power politics?  Or, useful and free men who should somehow be helped to claim their rightful heritage of dignity, self-government, and self-respect.  Each man will answer this question in his own way, but he will give his answer – even if it only is a decision not to answer at all.

The person drawn to the path of sacrifice will also take a fresh look at the meaning of peace.  He will reflect about, and discuss, this word, probing for new meanings and new techniques.  So long as the concept is negative and defined as “the absence of war”, so long as effort is limited to restraining potential aggressors or curtailing the means of aggression, the results are likely to be disillusioning and dangerous.  Only by transforming the concept to describe the positive and constructive task of creating order in the world can the individual discover a path which will justify his personal sacrifice.

The illiterate wrestling with his alphabet is waging peace.  The agriculturist toiling to increase his yield, the men of science grappling with disease or patiently organizing ways to lessen the burdens of human toil, the businessman and the trade unionist raising standards of practice in their crafts, the individual citizens championing the cause of human rights or giving leadership in the development of international law – all these and many, many more are heroes in the quest for peace.  The paths of freedom, progress, and justice, already commended to the Rotarian in the Outline of Policy, merge into the path of sacrifice – personal sacrifice for peace.  And peace must be waged!

If international relations remain the preoccupation of demagogues and diplomats, the obstacles to peace may never be overcome.  Peace must become the personal goal of practical men of affairs who are accustomed to getting things done.  These men, if they will pause to consider the meaning of their lives, have the greatest stake of all in the issue.  They have the most to lose in the present drift toward world war and revolution and the most to gain from the creation of a new order based on freedom, progress, and justice.

The path of sacrifice holds strong appeal for Rotarians.  Truly, this is “Service Above Self”.  And thousands of Rotarians are responding.  Much more could be accomplished, however, through a deeper devotion to Rotary principles, through a more diligent cultivation of Rotary contacts, and by more active and informed leadership in their own communities.  Is this too much to expect from a “world fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service”?

A generation ago, the fate of man was projected as “a race between education and catastrophe”.  With every year, the pace has quickened.  The call for personal sacrifice grows more urgent.  It comes from statesmen, scholars, and divines of every party and persuasion, but a general, long exposed to the scenes of battle, has voiced the most categorical conviction:

Now that the fighting has temporarily abated, the outstanding impression that emerges from the scene is the utter uselessness of the enormous sacrifice in life and limb which has resulted.  A nation has been gutted and we stand today just where we stood before it all started.

This experience again emphasizes the utter futility of modern war, its complete failure as an arbiter of international dissensions.  We must finally come to realize that war is outmoded as an instrument of policy, that it provides no solution but international suicide.

While we must be prepared to meet the trial if war comes, we should gear foreign and domestic policies toward the ultimate goal, the abolition of war from the face of the earth.  You cannot control war; you can only abolish it.

It must be obvious that the abolition of war is a severe summons to sacrificial action.  With a tenure so long in unrecorded tradition and in recorded history, and with a glory so enshrined in legend and song, it will die hard.  But the trophies of a successful battle against this scourge of mankind make it worth the candle.

7

The Path of Loyalty

He will urge and practice a spirit of understanding of every other man’s beliefs as a step towards international good will, recognizing that there are certain basic moral and spiritual standards which, if practiced, will insure a richer, fuller life.

(From the Outline of Policy in International Service.)

THE ROTARIAN who has seriously considered these paths to peace might ask himself: “What more is needed?”

Surely these six paths – patriotism, conciliation, freedom, progress, justice, and sacrifice – represent a catalogue of courageous action tempered by vision.  Here is a balanced picture of an enlightened man:

• A patriot whose pride in the contributions of his beloved land rises above all assertions of national or racial superiority;
• A stalwart defender of freedom for every human being;
• An optimist vigorous in support of action to improve living standards;
• A realist determined to uphold justice by applying its principles world-wide;
• A man prepared to make personal sacrifices for peace.

What does he lack but the spiritual strength to sustain him in this quest for peace?

This seventh path must involve the recognition that man does not live by bread alone, that in this world of competing ideologies, the cause of world fellowship must reach beyond material considerations to encompass what is of ultimate significance.  Yes, this cause is practical; it wrestles with such specific problems as prejudice, tension, poverty, and injustice.  But it must also be practical in the most down-to-earth practicality of all – in giving point to a man’s life, and in seeking answers to the eternal questions: What is the meaning of it all?  Why am I here?

Can Rotary propose such a path?  If this seventh path were to espouse any such teaching, it would be stepping outside the function and sphere of Rotary.  This fact can hardly be stressed sufficiently.  To dispel misconceptions, it may suffice to quote the categorical reply of a president of Rotary International to one great religious community which raised the question:

Rotary is not a secret association.  Rotary has no vows or secrets of any kind.  All of its meetings, activities, and records are public.

Rotary does not seek to supplant or to interfere with any religious or charitable organization.

Many years ago, by convention action, Rotary International asserted: “Each Rotarian is expected to be a loyal member of the church or religious community to which he belongs and personally exemplify by his every act the tenets of his religion.”

Qualifications for Rotary membership do not require information as to race, religion, or politics.

Rotary assumes that its program of service is in accord with all religions.

The key word in this statement is loyal.  Each Rotarian is expected to be loyal to the religious community to which he belongs.  And the Outline of Policy goes one step further by urging an understanding of the loyalties of other men as basic to the fulfillment of life’s purpose.  Unwillingness to understand persons with divergent loyalties is no small problem today.  Rotary brings together men of different religious persuasions in a fellowship of mutual respect.  Acquaintance in an atmosphere of mutual respect embraces a great deal.  Given this setting, acquaintance ripens into friendship.

Project upon the world the simple ways of any Rotary club: the friendly greeting, the sitting down together, the exchange of experiences, the growing sympathy.  Can this familiar process be developed between peoples now separated by barriers of suspicion, bitter memories, and differing loyalties?  And could such world-wide acquaintance help heal the wounds of mankind?  If it could, we might see realized the dream of the poet Whitman:

I dreamed in a dream that I saw a city invincible to the attacks of the whole of the rest of the earth.  I dreamed that was the new city of friends, the only city that will last, the only city that is impregnable, the new city of friends.

Much of the spiritual unrest which typifies industrialized society, and which, according to most authorities, is rapidly increasing, finds its origin in the pressures of society.  The individual, floundering in events he does not understand or cannot control, looks inward.  What does he see?  He sees other persons like himself.  And he discovers that his self-centered, self-sufficient being is only part of his reality.  Behind his mask of selfishness is a truly spiritual being which is intimately concerned for, and linked with, other men and other women.  This is the inner dynamism which reaches outward to others in the realization that, as Paul Tillich puts it, man is not “a thing among things” – he is a Person.

Ibsen in Peer Gynt has the superintendent of an insane asylum tell what is wrong with many of his patients.  Those whom he described have psychopathic anxieties about themselves, not about others:

Beside themselves?  Oh, no, you’re wrong.  It’s here that men are most themselves – Themselves and nothing but themselves – sailing with outspread wings of self, the cask stopped with the bung of self, and seasoned in a well of self.  None has a tear for others’ woes or cares what others think.

There is a universal “I” in humanity at its higher stages, and observers of social development see evidence that it reaches for, and interacts upon, others.  The results of the “inner discover” of Man may be gradual and at times uncertain, but they are unmistakable.  There is a growing acknowledgment that if a person would serve himself, he must serve others.  This fundamental truth is basic in Rotary.

Society being what it is, however, there is another side to the coin of such understanding.  A canon of the Church of England, renowned for his wit, once put the matter thus: “Today,” he said, “we are all wild men, tired men, or puzzled men,” as a result, he suggested, of the growth and spread of knowledge, of the corrosion of personal belief through association with other beliefs.

The attitudes and activities proposed for the path of loyalty are designed to guard against these corrosive effects of diversity.  But first, perhaps, the effects themselves should be considered further.  How, for example, does an individual respond to the discovery that others differ from him in belief?  He may be one of the “wild men”.  When told that the world is gray, not black or white, he sees red.  He regards the one who differs from him as a rival and an enemy.  He resents his loyalty, burns his books, breaks up his assembly.  He seeks to protect his own loyalty by isolating it; he relies on vehement and fanatical expressions; he may provoke his neighbors until they consent to make a martyr of him.  He is the man who sees what he chooses to see and hears only what he wishes to hear.  He is like the minister who, in making penciled notes in the margin of his sermon, wrote in one place: “Argument weak here – shout very loud.”

A belligerent response to the discovery of diversity or unpleasant facts destroys the possibility of contribution along any of the paths commended to the Rotarian.  No less destructive is the alternative response of the “tired men”.  Their interest and energy are sapped by the inability to decide for themselves.  Like the “wild men”, they demand a simple solution.  Diversity distresses them, and often, tired of being tired, they make common cause with the fanatics.  A great host of such weary souls are to be found in the train of any dictator.  They may be among the millions who have concluded that what they think does not matter, anyway – that “they” will make the decisions.

According to the canon, the remainder of mankind consists of the “puzzled men” who have neither isolated themselves in fanaticism nor surrendered to world weariness, yet who – confronted by many winds of doctrine – wonder what their answer should be to the eternal questions and how they are related to those who believe in other answers.  They are forever gathering facts, searching out new “authorities”, pondering new theories, and discussing the relevance of history; these are the persons who defer action or commitment until “all the facts are in”.  Consequently, their decisions, such as they are, are “decisions by default”.

For the “puzzled men” the path of loyalty provides an answer which can rescue them from the state of suspended judgment.  Loyalty means commitment and action; commitment to something larger than oneself, and beyond oneself.  It means “digging in” at a logical point and saying: “Here I take my stand.  From here, I can go on exploring.   But as of now I stand here with my fellow men!”  It involves others who share the same devotion – “the dear love of man for his comrade”, as Whitman called it.  For the “tired men” the path of loyalty is presented as a delight and an encouragement to living.  Come what may, there is something that the loyal person can harvest home: the challenge of the probing spirit, the thrill of creative service, the solid anchor of personal responsibility.  It is normal that men should look for easy methods – the down-hill paths, the ready-made solutions.  In a push-button, free-wheeling age, it is natural that men should look for Instant Loyalty, Instant Peace.  If there can be Instant War, the others should be available, too.  But they are not here.

A fable illustrates the ultimate tragedy of the “tired man” – the person who, from weariness or from laziness, concludes that one man’s contribution will never be missed, anyway.  It was decided that all the people on earth would shout “Boo!” at the same time so that the voice of the world would be heard on the moon.  When the moment came for the mighty shout, all the people were so eager to hear this loud noise that each person decided to listen and not contribute his “Boo!”  It was said that this great occasion passed as the most silent moment in all history.

To the “wild men” it must be said that others are inspired to see one who knows where he is going – yet one who rejoices in encounters with loyalties different in object and origin from his own.  Knowing and appreciating the depths of their devotions, his own allegiance gathers fervor, just as travelers who chance to meet in their journeys are cheered on their several ways.  Acquaintance, the heart of Rotary, is also an act of the imagination – a projection of the soul into the soul of another human being, or of several others, or of a whole people.

Rotary is designed to amplify and multiply this process for the advancement of understanding, good will, and peace: intensively in the club – men of different occupations and different faiths are brought together; extensively – through the world fellowship of Rotary – each member has the chance to inspire and be inspired by men of other nations, cultures, and traditions.  One man’s witness to the meaning of life strengthens the sense of meaning in others.

At many points along the line, however, loyalty has been discredited.  How else can be explained the apathy toward religion, as distinguished from mere church-going, the weakening of family attachments, the number of broken homes, the rash of treason to country which has been revealed even among persons of the finest backgrounds and privileges, the wild fanaticism and the listless emptiness of so many lives?  Many reasons, social and economic, can be advanced for these developments, but would they have occurred if the training in loyalty had not been neglected or cheapened?  One disillusioned writer put his experience this way: “I was part of that strange race of people aptly described as spending their lives doing things they detest, to make money they don’t want, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like.”  What a picture of futility – the absence of any loyalty to anything or to anybody!

To the Prince of Darkness exulting on his throne, the story goes, came one who whispered evil tidings.  Somewhere on the earth, man had discovered a good idea.  For a moment, Satan was abashed and shaken, but he soon recovered and with a devilish grin replied:

“Never mind, I will teach them how to organize it.”

Throughout the world are countless manifestations of the tendency to cheapen good ideas, to organize the heart out of them, to dilute them with words and trappings until they have no meaning.  Even the natural impulse of children to group themselves in pursuit of an interest is routinized and exploited.  Athletics, which provide such wonderful training in the team spirit, is often corrupted by emphasis on star performance and box office receipts.  Sublime moments in the year consecrated to religious and patriotic devotions have been perverted to base purposes.

Around the world in many places, loyalty has been perverted on a grand scale, because it serves immediate ends – without any regard for whom or what may be sacrificed in the process.  In such a setting, a Way of Life becomes an obsession, a scheme of economics becomes a religion, words become realities.  The ongoing search for Truth becomes not a discovery through observation or experience but a quest for facts which confirm pre-conceived axioms.  Regimentation and totalitarianism reach into the mind and lock the gate against Truth.  In totalitarian countries, loyalty is always under direct attack.  Children are trained to spy on their parents and teachers.  Ideas are strictly censored lest loyalty to truth and justice question the aims of the State.  Fear of guilt by association discourages personal friendships.  Independent groupings for social, religious, or political purposes are subjected to persecution.

Yet, despite all these depressing circumstances, the impulse to loyalty refuses to be crushed.  Under the fire of martyrdom, it burns brighter and purer.  Even the terrors of the concentration camp and the sacrifice of security have not prevented hundreds of thousands from breaking out for refuge in those parts of the world where voluntary loyalty is still possible.

The heroic motives of those who risk much for freedom, however, should not be misunderstood.  A pertinent comment came from the young Polish flyer who deserted his homeland to bring out the first Russian jet plane the West had seen, except in combat.  A few weeks later a reward of $100,000 was offered to any MIG pilot who would emulate his feat.  The response was disappointing, and the Polish pilot was asked for an explanation.  He suggested that those likely to take the risk would be prompted by honor and love of freedom, not by hope of gain.  Loyalty cannot be purchased.

But the press of materialism has made inroads against loyalty.  The whole world is rushing toward the creation or accumulation of things.  Nations vie with each other in steel production, in car loadings, and in manufacturing.  The symbol of a successful society is not the great ideas or great men it creates, but the things it produces.  And things have their place in the process of emancipating mankind from toil, privation, and drudgery, but emancipated for what?

It is a picture typified by a man and wife making a long journey by automobile.  The wife was reading the map and giving directions.  Suddenly, the wife exclaimed, “John, we’re lost.”

The husband clenched the wheel, pushed the accelerator even harder, and said, “What’s the difference – we’re making wonderful time!”

Mankind lives in an age of technology, with machines harnessed to almost every facet of life – even to the thought processes.  The “march of progress” has become the end, not the means; the destination of life is of little consequence.  It is not surprising that men tend to emphasize action rather than thought, things rather than persons, progress rather than loyalty.  Materialism without the tempering of loyalty leads inevitably to the attitude which says: There is no future, there is no past, there’s only now.

Observing how loyalty has been cheapened and suppressed, some might conclude that loyalty is a lost cause.  But appearances are often mistaken for reality.  Time and again through history, causes that seemed to be lost inspired the heights of loyalty.  The strength of loyalty is not manifested in applause for the conqueror or in mounting the triumphant bandwagon, but rather in the moments of utter despair.  Consider the Christian martyrs braving the might of Rome .  Think of the patriots who sustained their loyalty through centuries when their countries had been wiped from the map.

The richest personal experiences, too, may come at the time when the presence of loyalty is most keenly felt.  Are not these the times of trial and faint hope?

The statesman who exemplified the stubborn will of a nation standing alone against impossible odds voiced a confidence that subsequent events have made more plausible.  “Laws just or unjust may govern men’s actions,” Sir Winston Churchill told an American audience in 1949.  “tyrannies may restrain or regulate their words.  The machinery of propaganda may pack their minds with falsehood and deny them truth for many generations of time.  But the soul of man thus held in trance or frozen in a long night can be awakened by a spark coming from God knows where, and in a moment the whole structure of lies and oppression is on trial for its life.  People in bondage need never despair.”

Many spectacular headlines are created by men who suppress freedom, embrace selfish goals, and exalt brute strength – those whose loyalty, such as it is, remains in the cave-man stage.  Their narrow causes, gnawing at the spirit of men, are still taking their toll, but the human spirit springs back if it is nurtured and inspired by steadfast loyalty.  Rotary’s appeal has been to the loyalty of men – to the selfless spirit reaching out to the same spirit in other men.  Patriotism, conciliation, freedom, progress, justice, and sacrifice – each of these represents a counsel of perfection which is hard to achieve, but Rotarians possess a deep feeling of loyalty to a world fellowship which links them with all people.  Theirs is an expansive loyalty, but grounded well on foundations which have withstood the tides and currents of their communities.

Loyalty belongs to what has been called the “unyielding frontier” of the human spirit, which will not submit to laboratory or test-tube.  Scientists can shrink the world to one geographic neighborhood, but they cannot make the neighbors like or respect one another.  They can neither isolate nor create motives which can be applied automatically to produce respect and service in an interdependent world.  Research geniuses are more likely to produce life than to create love.  The last word belongs to the spirit.

A scientist, however, speaking to a Rotary International convention, sketched a passage out of the Valley of Imminent Destruction – a passage which can demonstrate how a blending of the path of progress and the path of loyalty could lead to peace.  Dr. Donald H. Andrews, a chemist, told the Rotarians and their families:

The same experiments which have given us atomic energy are giving us … atomic vision.  We are looking inside the atom and we are seeing that the atom is more than matter.  If you want it in a word, we are seeing that the atom is music.  And it is because of this new vision, the fact that science points to something beyond the material, we can find hope for the future, hope that we can at last build this great, new, wonderful world of peace and abundant living for everyone…

What is this mysterious force within each of us that dominates and controls this vast flux of atoms that goes through us in every moment of our living?  Science today asserts that the quantity which stays constant under transformation has the deepest reality.

Here is this life spark, call it spirit or soul, if you like, which somehow within us stays constant and dominates this vast change, that constitutes our living, and there we have the supreme reality.  Science says the reality which we know and with which we have contact, the supreme dominant reality, is the human spirit.  Now, if we turn to the universe without as well as the universe within, we find the same answer.  The stars are made of atoms.  Their atoms are singing.  The music of the spheres is more than just a poet’s fancy.  The stars are singing.  And, as we look further out at the nature of time and space, we see again a new answer …

The real power of the universe is not the shattering power of the atom but the power of love, the love that we should have for our fellow human beings, the love which our Creator has for us and which we should have for Him.  And in terms of these new visions of science we see hope for bringing in this new world of peace, good will, and abundant living for all mankind. …

Rotarians can provide no instant magic in bringing in this new world, but they are in an enviable position to engage in a “chain reaction” of fellowship and service.  One Rotarian – like the process of the exploding atom – can be the catalyst for two; those two can touch off four; four can reach eight – and so on.  They can have such faith and vision that their loyalties can ignite others with the same vision. 

Rotary has no quick solution to offer a harried world, but Rotarians – individual Rotarians – believe they have widened the crack in the wall of misunderstanding and distrust.  With every passing day they hasten its disintegration by a barrage of fellowship and service.  They do not toil alone, and they take courage that all men of good will are joined, in spirit, in the universal quest for peace.

Impact

SHORTLY BEFORE an election, the London borough of Lambeth organized an exhibition to encourage voters to exercise their privilege on election day.  There were all sorts of interesting features; picturesque episodes in the long struggle for the right to vote, charts showing the ebb and flow of voter interest in past elections, maps and models of new developments planned for the borough with brief biographies of the candidates.  But most magnetic of all the attractions was a mysterious box.  It bore a sign reading:

THIS PERSON CARRIES THE HEAVIEST BURDEN.

Visitors were invited to peer within and to press a button.  A light went on disclosing the only contents of the box – a looking glass!

If a Rotary club were to hold an exhibition of international service, might not the very same feature be included?  A mirror for the individual Rotarian to look at himself!  It would dramatize the thought of the international service committee of a Rotary club in Denmark at the end of a splendid year’s work:

The international work must be carried out by every single member of the club.  The international service committee is not a separate, sole agency or department within the club.  The committee directs, advises, informs and assists you, the individual member, in all matters pertaining to international service in order that you may do your part in this essential Rotary service.  As a Rotarian it is YOUR responsibility.

This thought was the basis of the program of one president of Rotary International who challenged individual Rotarians to find their “personal paths to peace”.  This admonition creates an obligation to set personal objectives, to survey every facet of the local scene to find where service and information may be helpful.  This is not to dictate to the individual Rotarian but to help him to do what he wants to do, what he knows he should do, and to persuade him that what he does is important.  It should be clearly understood by Rotarians and non-Rotarians, too, that the impact of Rotary is created by individual Rotarians.

“After years of concentrated effort,” writes the New Zealand Rotarian who initiated the study of the seven paths to peace, “the central problem remains the same.  We are still trying to devise ways and means of capturing the imagination of the individual Rotarian.  Opportunity is there, information is there, the desire to use both is there in the majority of members.  Yet we still have to persuade the individual that his effort, however small, will and does affect the total.”

What can the Rotarian do?  What has he already done?  What opportunities come to the Rotarian because he is a Rotarian?  And has he taken advantage of these opportunities?  These are only a few of the searching questions which will come to the Rotarian – and the non-Rotarian too – as he reads the story of other Rotarians and, more important, as he appraises his own movements along his “personal path to peace”.

First, it should be pointed out that being a Rotarian sets up advantages and opportunities not presented to many persons.  The Rotarian can open his Official Directory of more than 10,000 clubs in more than 100 lands, turn to any page, put his finger down on a club listing and say, “Here I have a friend.”  He can write a personal letter to that club president or secretary with the expectation of getting a personal reply.  He can visit that club on a meeting day and be welcomed as a friend.  He may be a guest in any Rotarian’s place of business or in his home.  The candor – and respect – with which Rotarians approach each other is significant.

Rotarians travel a great deal.  In these days when no point on the earth is more than a few hours away, travel to other lands is easy and attractive.  Thousands of Rotarians travel in other countries each year, and the number is increasing.  “Making up” in another club is not only a necessity, it is a privilege which no Rotarian would forego.

Imagine the experience of such a traveler.  Before his departure, the traveling Rotarian is urged by his fellow Rotarians to visit as many Rotary clubs as possible in his journey.  He may be given the simulated “passport” available from Rotary International, as a reminder of the meeting places and times of the clubs he might visit.  Over the endorsement of his club officers, it authorizes him to invite the co-operation of the clubs in international service.

When he goes into the meeting of a club in another country, he goes not as stranger or “foreigner” but as fellow-Rotarian.  His conversation with neighbors at lunch, the brief remarks he may be asked to make, and the message of good will he brings from his own club are impressive.  They will be remembered, especially if he is visiting a club in a smaller or more remote community.  And that is not all.  He may be invited to the home of a member or to his place of business.  An interview may appear in the local newspaper or be broadcast over the radio.  He may be taken to the school for a talk about his country.

Many Rotary clubs, because of their location near international borders, can regularly sponsor personal, face-to-face meetings with other Rotarians.  Ill-will between nations is often generated by border incidents.  Rotarians so located – and there are many – have a special responsibility for insuring that incidents are of the kind to foster international good will.

It can be done.  It is being done all the time.  Here, an international peace park bestrides a frontier as a result of Rotary sponsorship; there, a great meeting brings hundreds of Rotarians from the neighbor country year after year.  School children exchange visits from country to country under rotary guidance.  Airplanes are chartered to fly the whole club to another country for an inter-city meeting.  The famous statue of Christ, dedicated by Rotarians of Argentina and Chile to enduring peace, towers in the highest Andes .  All kinds of exchanges are fostered by the Inter-Country Committees that carry on a continuous activity in Europe .  And from India comes this note of a Rotary mission to Pakistan :

Nearly 200 Rotarians from every city and town of note, representing the chivalry of Rajastan, the shrewdness of Sarastra, the business and industry of Gujarat , and the past memories of Central India wended their way to Karachi on a mission of Rotary and as ambassadors of peace and good will.

If border incidents of this kind could be multiplied, if every Rotarian who travels would undertake a Rotary mission for his club, a great advance in understanding and good will could be achieved.

“Meet they neighbor, talk with him, and there will be peace.”

An Indian Rotarian writes of this old Sanskrit proverb: “Simple language, but wonderful wealth of meaning behind it.  There is, I think, not only a challenge to Rotary, but I feel that Rotary is the best equipped vehicle in the world to achieve this prime purpose of civilization.”

Not all Rotarians can journey to another land, but most of them can be hosts to those who can, or, what may be more practical, they can use the mails for fruitful and stimulating exchange.  Personal acquaintance through international correspondence, as in all phases of Rotary, is not developed as an end in itself, delightful as that is, but “as an opportunity for service”.  What that opportunity may be is a matter for exploration with correspondents.  In one instance, there may be a contribution to better understand ding of a particularly troublesome problem.  In another, the exchange of books and magazines for presentation to local libraries may be the result.  Or, hearing about some effort of the other club for the welfare of its community, the Rotarian may be inspired to offer help, too.  The possibilities are as infinitely varied as the needs of mankind.

Where to begin?  That is the question!  One Rotarian in Norway found an answer by treating himself to a world tour – addressing letters in sequence to one Rotary club after another in progression around the world.  What a reception he got en route!  There may be some special interest, professional or otherwise, that would lead to the choosing of a particular country as the starting point of a quest for understanding.  Perhaps there is hostility toward a certain country manifested in casual conversation with a neighbor or in the remarks of a newspaper columnist or radio commentator.  Why not write to Rotarians in that country with a tactful request for enlightenment?

In that event, the following statement of policy should be given close attention:

The board of directors of Rotary International shares with Rotarians everywhere deep concern over tense and troubled conditions in many parts of the world; great satisfaction in the services rendered by Rotary clubs, Rotarians and many others in relieving distress; and a clear recognition of the urgent need for understanding and good will among the peoples of the world.

The board has earnestly sought and will continue to seek every means, within the limits of established policy, to attain the objectives of Rotary International throughout the world.

The board has reviewed statements and activities of some Rotary clubs which, however well intended, in some instances have resulted in misunderstanding, ill will, and controversy.

The board urges all Rotary clubs and Rotarians to intensify their efforts to encourage and foster the advancement of understanding and good will among the peoples of the world – at all times observing established policy of Rotary International and avoiding scrupulously any act, utterance, correspondence or published statement which might have a tendency to cause misunderstanding, create ill will, or retard efforts to achieve and maintain peace.

Individual Rotarians around the world have derived rare satisfaction from correspondence on a grand scale.  A Brazilian supported the cause of international understanding with 6,000 personal letters.  A Rotary club in Hawaii bases the discussions of its international service committee on correspondence by its members.   A Texan reports the writing of 12,000 letters with a view to promoting correspondence between young people of different countries.  As one Canadian Rotarian, who was carrying on a lively exchange with 38 friends in Rotary overseas, exclaimed: “Why don’t more Rotarians start writing letters?  It is no hardship and, I can assure you, very enjoyable.  I can hardly wait until I get my next letter from some previously unheard from overseas club.”

More than 1,500 Rotary clubs in some 60 countries have registered their interests in the publication, “Targets for Today”, published annually and brought up to date at least once within the year with a supplement.  If you are initiating correspondence, you may want to select one of those “target” clubs.

One outgrowth of correspondence may be an exchange of manuscripts, recordings, films, or slides.  This practice is a favorite program technique of hundreds of clubs.  The best talent of each club is enlisted for the exchange program, and direct references are often made to personalities in the other club to emphasize the feeling of fellowship.  When the program from the other club is presented at a regular meeting it is introduced impressively as a notable occasion of Rotary in action.  If the exchange program is in manuscript, members reading it assume the parts of the original spokesman and are introduced as such with brief biographies.  The other country’s flag is displayed, its national anthem played, and a toast proposed.  Local residents of that country are honored guests at the meeting and press reports of it are sent to the originating club.

Electronic magic can reproduce for Rotarians of another country the actual talk and other sounds of the club meeting.  Movies or slides can bring vivid impressions of Rotary personalities and scenes in other lands.  Hundreds of clubs have combined slides and recordings to make impressive and stimulating programs.

The obstacle of a different language cannot be dismissed, but it can be overcome.  In many cases, the language will be understood by someone in the other club who can translate correspondence or an exchange program in manuscript for the benefit of other members.  At the beginning of a correspondence, the language situation should be clarified so that each party to the exchange can feel free to use his own language.

The fruits of personal acquaintance between Rotarians of different countries may seem small in contrast with the immensity of the issues that harass the world.  Greater, then, is the need to multiply and intensify these contacts.  The Rotarian will not be content with one letter or one exchange of programs.  He will initiate many.  He will use the wonders of science to expedite his originality.  Stretching out his hands in many directions, persevering with acquaintance once established, he can develop an influence that will spread over the earth.

Turning from the personal activities of Rotarians within their own ranks, what can they do to reach non-Rotarians?  Or, should they?

The answer is – yes!  A Rotarian represents a single business or profession – the only representative of that business or profession in his club.  His obligation to carry the Rotary ideal of service to others of his profession or business as well as to the community at large is a primary concern.   He will find his “personal path to peace”, but more will be accomplished if he can convince others to travel it with him.

A significant part of the impact of Rotary, then, is the extent of its influence beyond the rotary club itself.  It is obvious that the object of Rotary can hardly be achieved if this influence is limited to the relatively small number of Rotarians.  This imperative was plainly drawn by the bounder of Rotary.  “In the promotion of international understanding and good will,” wrote Paul Harris, “one must remember that it is important to reach large numbers, non-Rotarians as well as Rotarians, and one cannot reach large numbers privately.”

Rotarians, accordingly, are challenged to open a window to the world for the people of their communities.  Here, indeed, is an answer to those who question the practical effects of international service.  International understanding will not be created in the stratosphere of world politics – but in the minds of neighbors, among business associates, and through local media of communication and education.  Public opinion is the sum of individual opinions, and public opinion is the mightiest force on earth.  Nations are as strong as the sum of individual opinions that can be mobilized in support of their policies.

Legislators and government officials are frank to admit that a single letter bearing the marks of simple sincerity and individual inspiration has more weight with them than reams of stereotyped petitions.  A forthright remark in casual conversation can have profound repercussions.

In the Senate of the United States there sat for many years a Rotarian, the late Senator Charles Andrews, Florida , U.S.A. , who spoke out strongly for international understanding.  He liked to tell his friends that he remembered his Rotary training whenever international relations were discussed.  Asked how he got that training, he would say that it might have come from speeches on international service, but mostly it came from the table talk at the club meeting where he learned the individual sentiments of his fellow members.  Little they knew the consequence of their casual comments in the preparation of a statesman.

Programs presented at weekly meetings are an excellent opportunity for sharing with non-Rotarians.  Because of the scope and program of Rotary, no club can be excused for having weekly programs “just like any other club”.  Programs with an international service theme will be planned around the needs of the community.  The needs vary, of course, from place to place.  A long look at one town may disclose deep-seated prejudices against “foreigners”.  Many a Rotary club has derived satisfaction from a program that calls attention to the debt that every nation owes to the culture, the art, the science of other nations.  In the progress of mankind all nations are members one of another.  The same is true in mundane matters of raw materials, manufactured products, and markets.  Do people recognize the extent of this interdependence?  Is the worker who eats his breakfast and rides off to his work aware that neither of these functions, nor many others that fill his day, would be possible without material contributions from lands other than his own?

The interest of any community in this fact of interdependence can be aroused by an exhibit that displays the best contributions of other countries.  Often these contributions are already present, yet unsuspected by most of the people.  A prairie town in Canada was astonished when the rotary club arranged a folk festival – many different nationalities were represented – and an abundance of talent was displayed.  Treasured costumes, folk songs and dances, souvenirs of many kinds which had been brought from other countries – all combined to transform a rather drab community into a veritable Ali Baba’s cave of cosmopolitan culture.

Other needs may relate to particular problems.  What, for instance, are the attitudes toward the overwhelming issue of war or peace – hopeful, constructive, and determined in the search for positive solutions?  Or resentful, fearful, and impatient – ripe for the mob hysteria that drives nations to convulsions of despair?

What can the Rotary club do to allay fears, encourage the acquiring of information, and create a climate where freedom and justice are secure?  Perhaps nothing.  But clubs have done such things and are doing them every day.  Such projects go beyond “having a program about it” – a weekly program which can only deal briefly and superficially with the subject.  Here, a program means a sustained and organized campaign in which the weekly program is merely one of the tools.

Fortunately, Rotary is not without allies for these tasks.  In every community there are individuals and groups with similar purposes and with special spheres of influence whose co-operation can be sought.  Rotary projects of international service can well be guided in this respect by the policy of co-operating with an existing agency, if one exists, rather than to create a new and duplicative agency. 

Instances of the operation of this principle in international service abound.  Perhaps the most spectacular was that initiated in 1942 by Rotarians of the London ( England ) area in organizing a conference of 21 governments to discuss cultural exchange after the war.  That conference became in due course the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, more familiarly known as UNESCO, an independent agency pursuing the goals of international understanding.

Under somewhat analogous circumstances, the president of Rotary International was invited to appoint 11 United States Rotarians who, in turn, were invited to advise the Unites States delegation at the San Francisco conference where the United Nations charter was negotiated.

While Rotary International is recognized as a consultant by the United Nations and UNESCO, this fact in no way identifies Rotary with these organizations.  The position was clearly set forth in the following statement by the board of directors of R.I. in January, 1952:

While R.I. neither gives nor withholds endorsement of the United Nations charter, nor of the actions or enactments of the United Nations, it does encourage Rotarians to acquaint themselves with the activities of the United Nations directed to the advancement of world peace.  

The general secretary is instructed to bring to the attention of Rotary clubs program information and other helps in connection with the study of the charter and the activities of the United Nations to the advancement of world peace.

Continued publicity shall be given to the reports of observers for R.I. who attend meetings of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

Rotarians desiring to make a proposal concerning the United Nations or any of its specialized agencies should function through the duly constituted governmental channels of their own country.

Many Rotarians around the world are active in the work of their local United Nations Associations.  Many local chapters were founded as a result of the initiative of Rotarians.

An example – one of many – of an enterprise initially sponsored by Rotary clubs which evolved into community-sponsored projects is the Institutes for International Understanding.  For thirteen years, an annual audience of more than a million non-Rotarians heard speakers – many of them from other countries – discuss world problems, answer questions, and meet with the assemblies of local schools.  Through these meetings, hundreds of Rotary clubs were able to reach large numbers, and eventually many communities sponsored them on their own.

How a Rotary club can co-operate with many other agencies in a community to meet a need not being met by any one of them has been illustrated in an entirely novel way in several communities.  Adult citizens of the community in which it began in 1957 were organized in delegations representing many nations in an into-their-shoes conference.  This technique, which has been cited previously, offers promise of being an appealing and effective method for attracting “large numbers” to international service.  Here is impact at its best.

For a full month, the “delegates” debate major world problems.  The active interest of hundreds of participants, putting themselves “into the shoes” of a nation other than their own, is amazing.  It spills over from the prescribed committee and plenary sessions into countless private gatherings and conversations that seek to win support for recommendations.  Here is active self-education, replacing the passive indoctrination by pressure groups.  Most significant of all perhaps is the personal acquaintance developed among people representing widely different views.

Does this experience provide a pattern that Rotary clubs around the world can adapt to their purposes?  All that is needed is the initial impetus.

Turning to the leaders of tomorrow, there is no end to ways in which Rotary clubs, with their world-wide affiliations, can contribute to the education of the rising generation.  Sponsoring an international relations club is a common practice.  Pen friendships are arranged for youth through Rotary clubs abroad.  Japanese clubs, for instance, have excited wide interest with an exchange of drawings by school children.  International essay contests to promote a better understanding are often a joint project undertaken by the rotary clubs in different countries.

Without interfering in any sense with the curriculum of the schools, teachers or administrators might be asked to tell the Rotary club how children are being informed about the world.  Is the approach universal or provincial, as illustrated in the story told by a former American ambassador to India ?  His son, fresh from Asian experiences, was about to enter an American school.

“I’ll make a bet,” said the ambassador, “that the world history which you will study begins in Egypt and Mesopotamia, moves on to Greece by way of Crete, takes you through Rome and finally ends with France and England.”

“But that is not world history,” argued his son.  “That leaves out three-fourths of the world.”

“Unfortunately,” the father remarks, “I won the bet.”

The exchange of youth has offered the greatest challenge to Rotary clubs.  In this field Rotary has pioneered with countless club and district sponsorships of various types of exchange and with the Rotary Foundation Fellowships which began in 1947.

The promise inherent in the Rotary Foundation program has appealed to Rotarians around the world.  More than 1,200 graduate students have studied in countries other than their own, under Rotary sponsorship.  Incidents culled from their reports and from the comments of others could fill volumes.  Each year they address audiences totalling more than half a million.  Even more minds are reached by radio and through articles they write for many publications.  And of no less significance are the evidences of character and ability reflected in their activities.  Truly, they are among tomorrow’s leaders.

One feature makes the Rotary Foundation Fellowships program unique: the degree of personal interest, friendship, and guidance that is forthcoming from Rotarians who “host” them in their academic communities, who take them into their homes and show them truly how the community works.  Not all Rotarians avail themselves of this unique opportunity for helping to train future leaders, but most of them do.

Rotarians will derive a dividend from their investments in The Rotary Foundation to the extent that they take advantage of the opportunity to use the capacities and influence the thinking of these potential ambassadors of good will.  Many Fellows have expressed their feelings about this opportunity, but it was never more charmingly set forth than by a young lady addressing one of the clubs in Australia :

In San Francisco it has been jokingly said that when they built the Golden Gate bridge, a thread was tied round a pigeon’s leg.  The pigeon flew across the bay and when he reached the other side a heavy cord was tied on to the string and pulled across.  After the cord they pulled a small cable and then a still heavier one until finally the cable that holds the Golden Gate bridge was strung across.

I like to think that the Rotary Foundation Fellowships are a bit like that.  They are the thread that will mark increasing exchanges between students of all countries who desire a deeper understanding of each other.  It is just a thread now, but each year it is growing stronger and stronger.  Next year perhaps it will be a rope, and finally it must be a big cable bridging the gap between the nations and binding us all together in a peaceful world.  I am proud and grateful for the privilege of being part of this great movement in furthering international understanding.

Rotary clubs have not only contributed generously to The Rotary Foundation but also they have used their own resources and ingenuity to set up and sponsor their own exchange of youth.  While The Rotary Foundation has sponsored the exchange of graduate students, the great preponderance of club and district projects have involved undergraduate or secondary students.  The study and travel of more than 10,000 young persons are sponsored by clubs and districts each year!

One such project has been in continuous operation since 1944, and its sponsors comment, “Our only regret is that we did not start something of this kind 25 years ago”.  Another district project which has brought nearly 300 students to America from a score of countries involves joint sponsorship by the district and individual clubs.  A principal advantage claimed for this plan is the intense interest developed by these clubs in their “own” students.

Increasingly, individual clubs are discovering that the sponsoring of visits by youth from abroad is well within their capacity.  These plans put personal service ahead of purse service.  The youth is lodged in the homes of Rotarians.  The local school, in many instances, is happy to provide free tuition for the sake of the cosmopolitan influence, and the offer of such an opportunity enables Rotary clubs of other lands to select a fine representative youth from many applicants who are eager and able to pay their own travel expenses.  Thereby, the cost of such projects to the sponsoring clubs is limited to incidentals.  One club brought 11 students from nine countries for a year to its community.

In Europe , youth exchange is a well-established practice.  Rotary district governors appoint committees to make the arrangements.  Often the exchange involves only the cost of travel.  The experience of home life in another country, the opportunity to learn another language, and the cementing of Rotary fellowship across national boundaries are only a few of the benefits.  International tours and summer camps have multiplied in Europe .  One example of how they are appreciated is the story of the Austrian lad who rode his bicycle all the way to Holland to join an international cruise aboard a Dutch vessel.

The instrument of personal acquaintance works most effectively in these summer camps.  As one German boy wrote of his experience:

This camp has done more for international understanding than a big number of politicians could do in a year.  If there is a possibility to form a united Europe , then it can only be done when all the different nations will be able to overcome their prejudices.  I am sure that the Rotary club camp really was successful in overcoming these prejudices, and that this is not all an exaggeration of mine.

When all is said and done, the personal touch is what counts in these international student projects.  Hordes of young people are shuttled across the seven seas in vain if no effort is made to train them for international service.

While the Rotary Foundation Fellowships and other Rotary-sponsored visits provide a natural focus for this effort, there is a broader field in the thousands of students and trainees going abroad each year under other schemes or on their own often slender resources.  Many of them seldom see much of the country they visit, or the people.  Among the thousands of such visitors to the U.S.A. in a year, it is estimated that 80 per cent never see the inside of an American home.  Probably the situation is not much different in other lands.

The importance of building friendships in this way becomes evident when it is remembered how many national leaders – how many Nehrus, how many Nkrumahs and others – once lived abroad.  If they experienced isolation, loneliness, and discrimination, the world could suffer deeply from those wounds.  A Mexican statesman who made great contributions to international understanding recalls the years of loneliness spent in a hall bedroom in New York City .  Only the kindness of some neighbors in the tenement rescued him from a feeling of bitterness which might have warped his whole career.

The Rotarian who introduces a visiting student to normal home life and to his neighbors, shows him how business is done, and shares with him the simple pleasures of everyday life is not only making a friend for himself – he may be doing his country and the world a great service.  His discussions of world problems with the youth may bear fruit in a career of leadership in the cause of peace.

But the greatest challenge, of course, is to those Rotary clubs in neighborhood of universities.  Theirs is a continuous and developing opportunity to organize acquaintance with students from abroad.  Rotarians meet these opportunities well and wisely.  Students by the hundreds are entertained during holiday seasons; churches and schools call upon them to interpret their countries in song and story; individuals are generous in their financial and spiritual solicitude.  Admitting all this with pride, however, does not minimize the necessity of doing more!

Doing more in all activities reflected in the “looking glass” becomes a personal challenge to the Rotarian who reads his official magazine and other rotary publications.  In an organization of the scope and size of Rotary, communication is basic.  To know what others are doing, to understand how they did it – this becomes a challenge and an inspiration, for if the idea became reality in Hyderabad , it might have appeal in Huntsville .

Rotary’s growth and success, after all, have come from the leavening of the spirit of service, and every success story speaks boldly, “You can do this, too – and better.”  And in the processes of communication and inspiration Rotary’s official magazine – The Rotarian in English and Revista Rotaria in Spanish – makes the major impact.  Twenty-two regional magazines also make impact in their limited spheres.

Rotary publications present facts and reflect ideas which have more than Rotary appeal.  Hundreds of copies of Rotary books, magazines, and pamphlets are shared with non-Rotarians around the world.  When these publications find their way into almost a half million homes of Rotarians, they have just begun their journey.

The magazine, for example, goes in large numbers to schools, public libraries, hospitals, reading rooms, and in hundreds of other places where accurate, readable, and constructive reporting is highly valued.  Its articles are the bases for excellent rotary club programs, for women’s social and study club programs, and for young people’s discussion groups.  It provides references for educational reports in schools and colleges, and radio and television programs are based on its articles.

Beyond these uses, however, in its two editions it is the “textbook”, or a vital supplement to the textbook, in hundreds of classes where students are learning a new language.  Its impact is enhanced by its being the only such magazine indexed by the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, and its influence is attested to by thousands of article reprints which are requested by Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike.

These, then, have been some of the images reflected in the looking glass – several of the acts of service which enrich the life of the individual Rotarian.  No person, no publication, could chronicle all of them.  No one can even cite examples of all of them.  The nature of Rotary itself and the nature of the Rotarians who make up this organization make the gathering of stories of service very difficult.  The service of Rotarians is likely to be quiet service.  And this is as it should be.

International service in Rotary is not the sound of trumpets.  It heralds no pronouncements.  It seeks no headlines.  Accordingly, this book has merely set forth, developed, and illustrated several of the principles in which Rotarians believe and around which they take their stand, as individual citizens.  The result of more than a half century of successful experience, these principles may be worth consideration by persons who do not belong to Rotary clubs.  For Rotary neither holds their exclusive possession nor claims their original creation.

An “international walk” graces the broad plaza leading to the headquarters building of Rotary International.  From the marble quarries that yielded stone for the Parthenon, from the floor of Westminster Abbey, from cliffs two miles above the sea in the Peruvian Andes – from most of the lands where Rotary is at work have come its square-cut paving stones.

They form a colorful pattern: red from Australia , yellow from France , dark gray from Singapore , cherry-pink from Japan , bird-blue from Sweden .  To withstand the strains of climate, only the most durable stones were selected, and embedded in each is a metal plaque telling the country, the year of Rotary’s arrival, and the name of its first club.

Joined together in common service, these stones are silent but enduring witness to Rotary’s methods and goals.  They symbolize service and friendship around the world.  They connote action, for either the broad or narrow path is useless unless there are persons willing to travel it.

The complete text

Of the Outline of

Policy of Rotary

International in

International Service

Appears on the

Following pages…

Policy of Rotary International in International Service  

The Aim:

The aim of international service in Rotary is expressed in the fourth avenue of service; namely, to encourage and foster:

The advancement of international understanding, good will and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service.

The Rotary ideal of service finds expression only where there is liberty of the individual, freedom of thought, speech and assembly, freedom of worship, freedom from persecution and aggression and freedom from want and fear.

Freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word and respect for human rights are inherent in Rotary principles and are also vital to the maintenance of international peace and order and to human progress.

Responsibility of the Individual Rotarian:

Each Rotarian is expected to make his individual contribution to the achievement of the ideal inherent in the fourth avenue of service.

Each Rotarian is expected to so order his daily personal life and business and professional activities that he will be a loyal and serving citizen of his own country.

Each Rotarian, wherever located, working as an individual, should help to create a well-informed public opinion.  Such opinion will inevitably affect government policies concerned with the advancement of international understanding and good will toward all peoples.

As a world-minded Rotarian:

(a) He will look beyond national patriotism and consider himself as sharing responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, good will, and peace.

(b) He will resist any tendency to act in terms of national or racial superiority.

(c) He will seek and develop common grounds for agreement with peoples of other lands.

(d) He will defend the rule of law and order to preserve the liberty of the individual so that he may enjoy freedom of thought, speech and assembly, freedom from persecution and aggression and freedom from want and fear.

(e) He will support action directed towards improving standards of living for all peoples, realizing that poverty anywhere endangers prosperity everywhere.

(f) He will uphold the principles of justice for mankind, recognizing that these are fundamental and must be world-wide.

(g) He will strive always to promote peace between nations and will be prepared to make personal sacrifices for that ideal.

(h) He will urge and practice a spirit of understanding of every other man’s beliefs, as a step towards international good will recognizing that there are certain basic moral and spiritual standards which, if practiced, will insure a richer, fuller life.

Responsibility of the Rotary Club:

Rotary clubs should not engage in any corporate effort to influence governments, world affairs or international policies, but should devote their energies toward informing the individual Rotarian in these important matters, so that he will develop an enlightened and constructive attitude of mind.

A Rotary club may properly provide a forum for the presentation of public questions where such a course of action is designed to foster the fourth avenue of service.  Where such questions are controversial, it is essential that both sides be adequately presented.

When international subjects are presented and discussed in a Rotary club, the speaker should be cautioned to avoid giving offense to peoples of other countries and it should be made clear that a Rotary club does not necessarily assume responsibility for opinions expressed by individual speakers at its meetings.

A Rotary club should not adopt resolutions of any kind dealing with specific plans relating to international affairs.  It should not direct appeals for action from clubs in one country to clubs, peoples, or governments of another country or circulate speeches or proposed plans for the solution of specific international problems.

In all cases where international tensions develop between countries in which Rotary clubs exist, the utmost caution should be exercised by the clubs of the countries concerned and by clubs of other countries lest any action may increase ill will and misunderstanding.

Position of Rotary International:

R.I. consists of Rotary clubs located in many countries with many points of view.  Therefore, no corporate action or corporate expression of opinion will be taken or given by R.I. on political subjects.

Postscript

by Robert Stewart, Rotary Club of Okotoks, Alberta , Canada (D5360) and Director of Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace http://www.peace.ca ; email stewartr [at] peace.ca 

In decision 157, 1982-83 the Rotary International Board agreed to discontinue publication of the book "Seven Paths to Peace" and it was replaced by the volume on international service in the new Rotary Basic Library.  The Rotary Basic Library was discontinued in 2000 and replaced with an annual new member insert in The Rotarian magazine.  Unfortunately, there are no copies of the discontinued Rotary Basic Library available and there are no other publications on International Service.

Currently, the RI Code section 8.080. contains the Basic Principles of Rotary in International Service (copy follows).

I invite you to consider helping to build peace through education and other activities, such as:

• Translating Rotary’s Seven Paths to Peace into local languages and posting them on the Internet for all to access – spread the good word;
• Publishing Rotary’s Seven Paths to Peace and distributing copies to local Rotarians and non-Rotarians with your own introductions (reference http://www.peace.ca/RotarySevenPathsToPeace.doc for copy in Microsoft Word);
• Developing a video of Rotary’s Seven Paths to Peace to assist in training and raising awareness around the world;
• Developing a Rotary Peace Plus program, analogous to the Polio Plus program;  
• Send a donation to The Rotary Foundation and mark it “for peace education”;
• Using every Rotary project as a “teachable moment” to make a connection with how it encourages and fosters the advancement of international understanding, good will and peace;
• Develop your own websites about your peacebuilding programs, to share with others;
• Join the Rotarians On The Internet (“ROTI”) email listserver which is a tool to promote communications, networking and information dissemination (reference http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ROTI/ );
• Distribute a poster with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for the wall of every classroom in your area (reference http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html );
• Developing a resource library of books, videos, etc. on peace for access by Rotarians, students and the general public;
• Provide the space for Rotarians and others to get together to dialogue, network and disseminate peace information (eg. Conferences, regular discussion groups, etc.);
• Learn about the United Nations Culture of Peace Program ( http://www.peace.ca/unesco.htm ) and the U.N. (reference http://www.un.org );
• Learn about the Global Campaign for Peace Education ( http://www.peace.ca/globalcampaignforpeaceeducation.htm );
• Other?

Rotary Code of Policies – Page 51 February 2004

8.080.1. Purpose of International Service

The development of understanding and good will among Rotarians and among the people at large is the specific task of international service in Rotary. (June 1998 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 348)

Source: Jan. 1952 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 97

8.080.2. Basic Policy of Rotary in International Service

The aim of International Service in Rotary is expressed in the fourth avenue of service: namely, to encourage and foster the advancement of international understanding, good will and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service. The Rotary ideal of service finds expression only where there is liberty of the individual, freedom of thought, speech and assembly, freedom of worship, freedom from persecution and aggression and freedom from want and fear. Freedom, justice, truth, sanctity of the pledged word and respect for human rights are inherent in Rotary principles and also are vital to the maintenance of international peace and order and to human progress. (June 1998 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 348)

Source: Jan. 1952 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 96. See also May 1954 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 216

8.080.3. Areas of International Service

In concept, International Service can be broken down into four general areas as follows:

1) World Community Service Activities

2) International Educational and Cultural Activities

3) Special International Observances and Events

4) International Meetings (June 1998 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 348)

Source: Oct. 1985 Mtg., Bd. Dec. 84

8.080.4. Responsibility of the Individual Rotarian

Each Rotarian is expected to make an individual contribution to the achievement of the ideal inherent in the fourth Avenue of Service. Each Rotarian is expected to be a loyal and serving citizen. Each Rotarian, wherever located, working as an individual, should help to create a well-informed public opinion. Such opinion will inevitably affect governmental policies concerned with the advancement of international understanding and good will toward all peoples.

A world-minded Rotarian will:

1) look beyond national patriotism and share responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, good will and peace;

2) resist any tendency to act in terms of national or racial superiority;