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Hopes for the Rotary of Tomorrow |
| "It is well to know ourselves if
only so that we may know wherein we may improve ourselves." The Anniversary Address of President Emeritus Paul P. Harris, delivered at the U. S. Central Division Conference at Chicago, 22 February, 1915. The hopelessness of the undertaking of accurately painting the picture of the Rotary of tomorrow is made doubly apparent when we open our eyes to the fact that even the Rotary of today has never been defined with exactness. A man possessing one of the most analytical minds in our organization was recently asked to write an article defining Rotary for publication in a well‑known American magazine and he was forced to acknowledge that the task was far and away beyond his power. He went further than that, he expressed the belief that no one else could define Rotary; and it became necessary for me to shame‑facedly admit that I agreed with his conclusions. I do not wonder that most Rotarians are content to stop with saying that a Rotary Club is an organization whose membership is limited to one representative of each business and profession. Until Rotary adopts a permanent and satisfactory explanation of itself, we shall be living in a house without either plan or foundation. I feel sure that no one is so blameworthy as myself for this paradoxical condition. I permitted myself to be carried along in the tide of the pleasure of doing things and seeing things done in preference to devoting myself to the more prosaic and less alluring occupation of thinking things. I built my superstructure, but lo, where was my foundation? The time when the foundation should have been laid naturally was during the year of my own first administration, long before the organization attained its present vast proportions. The wonder to me has been how Frank Mulholland, Glenn Mead and Russell Greiner ever have succeeded in keeping up with their work at all. I believe that there will be an advantage to be gained from a thorough understanding of ourselves, and that it will not be enough to merely find enjoyment and profit in membership. It is well to know ourselves if only so that we may know wherein we may improve ourselves. I think that we shall certainly know ourselves in the days that are to come, and the fact that we have not become acquainted with ourselves before now may be partially accounted for by the fact that there have been few who have made a profession of Rotary, and that the few who have done so have been so busy with vast volumes of details that they have had little opportunity for introspection. Where in the history of the world has any other organization grown really great without the inspiration of a definite, carefully developed and worded faith? Rotary still has much in store for itself. Will it not be possible to turn seeming disadvantage into advantage? Will it not eventually redound to the glory of Rotary if now at the beginning of its second decade it really begins to take cognizance of itself and to construct its philosophical foundation? Rotarian philosophy need not necessarily be "high‑browed." Benjamin Franklin's was not and yet it made for the wisdom and elevation of humanity. His aphorisms to this day stand as among the best guides to correct living. Men work and play, fight and make peace, love and hate, live and die all in pursuit of happiness, and how often in ill considered pursuit of happiness. Men barter the joy of years for the mirth of a day. Rotarian philosophers, let us try to view this thing called life as a whole, look it over, up and down, in and out, and then pick it to pieces, dissect it, analyze, synthesize and understand it. The Rotary philosophy need not be hysterical; it can be commonplace, common‑sensed and real. It will be a great boon if it brings to light and adapts to practical everyday life some of the truths which have existed throughout all time. Truth crushed to earth will rise again, but it sometimes takes an unconscionable time to do so because of the vast amount of debris which so called civilization has heaped upon it. Mr. big‑hearted, everyday Practical Man be not dismayed. It is no part of my plan to try to impose upon you the duty of sequestering yourself from family and friends daily to read books on philosophy. I wouldn't make you much different from what you are even if it were within my power. It would be a sorry job for me to try to make a poor philosopher out of a good business man. The world has too much work that needs doing by busy men. There are, however, many natural born philosophers in Rotary. A fine school of them has already sprung up and more are coming. They can't help philosophizing and wouldn't if they could because they feel that they have been called to serve. But let us know ourselves, Mr. Busy Man, and let us know what we are trying to do. It won't do you any harm, Mr. Busy Man, to devote a little time to the reading of the good things that are written. It may help your business and your enjoyment of life to do so, and it will encourage the writers, and the wife and children will enjoy them. They will help the home life and do the home folks good. Rotary owes a great debt to the home folks. I. sometimes wonder if we shall ever be able to repay it all. The thought that club life necessarily takes some things from the home life, which are home life's due, should raise every man of us to a new and keener sense of responsibility. Don't let us even in our most optimistic moments ever get the idea into our heads that it would be good business to barter the love of the home folks for the best thing that any club can offer. The love of the home folks is the one real priceless jewel with which men have been blessed. It is my own observation that little progress can be made in any undertaking without system. The efforts of the Rotarian philosophers must be coordinated. President Mulholland has already taken the first long step in that direction. Mr. Mead's committee have made a splendid start. Would it be too much to hope for a philosophical convention, or even an annual philosophical convention, where men who have shown particular interest in the philosophy of Rotary may get together undisturbed by entertainment and the rush of business which characterize annual conventions and devote themselves to the development of our Rotarian philosophy? I would love to know that there would some day be a great convention of Rotarian philosophers to, be held well outside the entertainment zone of some centrally located city. It seems to me that it should last at least a week and that it should immediately precede one of our International Conventions; and that the delegates should be chosen by the various clubs and sent at the expense of the various clubs. It also seems to me that the delegates to the convention of Rotarian Philosophers should at the close of their convention elect three of their members who have rendered distinguished service, to attend the International Convention at the expense of the International Association, and there present in concise form for approval or disapproval the result of their deliberations. The Rotarian philosophy must ring true. There are no two ways about that. I believe that the trend of Rotarian life is toward higher planes but the planes must never be too high to be genuine. Truth we must have, and if the time comes when we find ourselves sailing in too high an altitude to be safe, then indeed let us get down to earth. Possibly we shall be able to rise again later. While we are making a frail attempt to read the horoscope of Rotary let us not overlook the fact that we are growing older and that food for boys is not food for men. It is my own belief that Rotary is already realizing the beneficial effects of maturing age. I believe that a glance at the programs of meetings past and meetings present will convince one that we are growing, not in membership alone but also in realization of the fact that it's a bigger thing to be men than it is to be boys. Is it reasonable to suppose that the tendency will cease? No, we shall continue to grow and our view must be increasingly broader as time goes on. Ours has been very much a business view of things. Perhaps we shall soon be ready to take the life view of things, if for no better reason than the desire for originality. Correspondence schools have been rightfully credited with the origination of much which Rotary has adopted. Is Rotary to be satisfied with the reputation of being either one of two things, either entirely void of philosophy or a plagiarist? No, Rotary desires and may have a richer, rarer, broader philosophy than any yet produced. Perhaps by oft repeating, even such sterling words as "Service" and such aphorisms as "He Profits Most Who Serves Best" may become trite. This is the age of reason. Men must have opportunity to think for themselves. They will not be satisfied for any great length of time with merely chanting other people's phrases. I have tried to think of some destination universally desired, some place to which men of all forms of politics and religion would wish to bend their steps. I see but one upon which the minds of all men can agree and that is the goal of human happiness. I want to suggest to you, President Mulholland, the Selection of happiness as our objective point. To the destination of true happiness the path of wholesome pleasure and the path of duty converge. He who is most devoted to the pursuit of true happiness will prove to be the most, valuable citizen and he who seeks shall find. In a recent letter published in The Rotarian, I attempted to define some of the attributes of true happiness and I also expressed the belief that happiness is the natural heritage of man, conditional only upon the discovery of and the obedience to nature's laws. To express myself again briefly and plainly, I believe that the time will come when all men not only can be happy but will be happy. If I am correct in my views, it will mean simply that intelligence will some day dominate the quest of human happiness and that the curtains of night shall be forever drawn upon the darkness of the ignorant past. Men work and play, fight and make peace, love and hate, live and die all in pursuit of happiness, and how often in ill considered pursuit of happiness. Men barter the joy of years for the mirth of a day. Rotarian philosophers, let us try to view this thing called life as a whole, look it over, up and down, in and out, and then pick it to pieces, dissect it, analyze, synthesize and understand it. You have never thought of such a thing as deliberately, seriously planning life's campaign with the end in view of obtaining even for you a full quota of life's happiness. I am convinced that the men of the future will know much more than they do at present about how to make happiness; in fact, we do already know much more than we did in the days of the past. The change, of a decade may not be noticeable ‑ but the change of a century is. May the Rotarian philosophy of tomorrow live to resurrect and adapt to its day and age some of the homespun lore of long ago. May Rotarian influences tend to appreciate the simplicities of life and to depreciate its unnerving complexities. We have done some things for business life, let us do more for the home life. May the new Rotarian philosophy of life be passed on to future generations through the medium of the Rotarian wife, mother and the little ones who gather at her knee until it holds a place in the very sub consciousness of men. Let us re‑dedicate ourselves in the brighter light, the broader way, the truer life to the goal of human happiness, the rightful heritage of him who is honorable in business and whose life is wholesome, just and right. Researched and submitted by Wolfgang Ziegler |
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