Brillianteering

In today’s regular weekly meeting, President Hermie Esguerra will be giving his mid-year report to the Rotary Club of Manila members and guests. Since July, the President’s weekly activities, which is religiously featured in Balita through the “President’s Diary”, has surely given everyone a glimpse of the various successfully implemented projects, solidified partnerships with other clubs, government entities, and civic organizations, as well as the awards and recognitions that the Club has thus far received from the district.

Our Club has surely accomplished much over the past six months, and we have a reason to celebrate and be proud. The completed projects and the ones in the pipeline for implementation in the coming months tell us of the resilience, strength of character, and vibrance of the country’s oldest Rotary Club. To be sure, the Club has had some unique challenges and drawbacks in the past six months, but this should be seen as part of the (necessary) process of the Club going through the crucible of severe testing. Even after more than a century of existence, Asia’s first Rotary Club continues to go through the process of sharpening and polishing – and this is how a priceless creation is perfected.

In fact, a billion years creation of nature, the natural diamond, still needs to undergo through a cutting and polishing process to let it achieve a perfect shape, and make it sparkle and shine. In a process called brillianteering, the facets of the cut diamond are polished so that it reflects and refracts the optimal amount of light. It is the polishing of the natural diamond that determines how much fire, brilliance and sparkle it will have.

When a raw diamond is first discovered, it looks unremarkable: a clear pebble or rough crystal scarred by its journey from deep within the earth’s crust. It takes the diamond cutter’s art to release its brilliance, fire, and scintillation. The Rotary Club of Manila, just like a raw diamond, has to go through the same process.

Since a diamond is the hardest known mineral to man, only another diamond can cut it. This explains why it is not the copper saw that cuts through the natural rough diamond, but the diamond dust it is coated with. As we reflect on the past six months of the current Rotary year, and as we look forward to the future of our Club, let us endeavor to each be a diamond dust to collectively coat the copper saw to fashionably cut and mold our Club. Let us all positively contribute so that the process of brillianteering will truly result in a sparkling and priceless gem that is the Rotary Club of Manila.