The Rotary Balita no. 751 (August 5, 1954).

One day 12 years ago when I was a District Governor I stood up to address a small Rotary Cl some distance from Chicago. I had planned to talk about attendance, classification, and some other details of Rotary organization, but just as I began to open my mouth something happened that changed everything. Two men, surprising us all, walked into the green and took seats at the back. They were Paul Harris, the lawyer who had started Rotary's first Club in 1905, and his old friend and neighbor Silvester Schiele, who had been first President of the first Club. Surely I should switch to a subject that would acknowledge their presence and somehow be nearer the heart of our great Rotary. “Rotary," I found myself saying, "is a maker of friendships and a builder of men." The phrase had p sprung to mind spontaneously. I had never used it before. But it served perfectly on that occasion. In fact, through all the following years, I have fallen back upon it as the best personal definition I can give of Rotary. As we start this new Rotary year-this golden year in which we mark the 50th birthday of our worldwide fellowship-may I suggest to all my fellow Rotarians, some 389,000 men in 8,200 Clubs in 89 countries and geographical regions, that that is why we are Rotarians: to make friendships and to build better men. Citizenship! Good citizenship. That is really what it all boils down to, isn't it? And good, decent, interested, hard-working citizenship is the fundamental need in all our communities around the earth, as I see it. "Rotary," as the Convention of 1943 phrased it, "expects every Rotarian to be a loyal and serving citizen of his own country." For many months now I have given special thought to the subject. Asking the opinions of friends and jotting down their ideas, adding and subtracting my own observations, I have prepared a test of citizenship which, it seems to me, Rotarians around the earth might find applicable. (See box.) What are the marks of a really good citizen? He should be well informed, of course. He should be courteous, unselfish, and friendly, able to get along well with others: a good neighbor. Beneath these qualities, though, a citizen needs undergirding. He must be sincere and dependable. Certainly he should take an active part in the char of his choice. Religious faith provides the reason for good citizenship. In 1943 our Rotary Convention delegates acted well when they resolved that "Rotary International expects every Rotarian 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 own religion." Our beliefs may differ, and do differ widely, by faith in God we must have if we are to build better men and communities. Another mark of a good citizen is appreciation. In the yard of my home stand some magnificent elm trees, noble shade-givers a century old. I would be ungrateful indeed if I did not give thanks to that man unknown to me who planted elm saplings a century ago. With my gratitude I should mix a sense of responsibility toward others who will follow me Now and then I should ask myself, "Have I planted any elm trees?" A sense of responsibility takes constant cultivation. Often when driving my car I find myself in too much of a hurry. The speedometer keeps inching over the speed limit. Sometimes I rationalize. "If you'll just hold it to five miles over the limit, that will be good enough." It isn't good enough, for the good citizen, if he's to be fair and just to all, must obey the laws of his community and nation. "Lawmakers ought not to be lawbreakers," said Chaucer back in the 14th Century. Since that day more of us have become lawmakers. And that brings us to another point. The good citizens vote. He should fulfill his lawmaking obligations both regularly and intelligently. The good citizen is also interested in the freedom and welfare of all the world's peoples, and he does his part to secure them. Because he knows that freedom isn't free, he is productive. He renders a truly worthwhile service to his fellowman. Finally, the conscientious citizen sets a good example to the youth of his community: only through youth of high moral character will the values of good citizenship endure. Because almost everything we do in Rotary works toward the goal of better citizenship and better cities, I believe that the six objectives I have set for this important Rotary year bear directly on the subject of citizenship-and so I share them with you here: 1. During this 50th Anniversary year, let's look backward thoughtfully to appraise Rotary's development during half a century. Then let's apply to the future the lessons learned. 2. Let's share Rotary with more men; let's grow Let's set our goal at 10 percent increase in membership in every Club, We can do it if qualified Rotarians will take senior active and past service membership to open classifications, if we take on more additional active members, and if all of us keep alert to opportunities for organizing new Clubs-and then follow through! 3. Let's all memorize Rotary's Four-Way Test. Then let us take it to the youth of our communities by inaugurating the Four-Way Test Plan in secondary or high school in every Rotary community. 4. Let's promote in every Rotary Club a youth project. I don't mean just a donation of money; we need to come into direct contact with youth if we're going to influence them for good. 5. Let's get every Rotary Club to sponsor a project in International Service. Maybe the Club members will invite into their homes students from other countries. (There are more than 30,000 such students in the United States alone.) Maybe the project will be something on a larger scale. But each Club should be doing something to build friendships across national boundaries. Let's provide a Rotary Foundation Fellowship for each Rotary District each year. Ambitious? Certainly! It means doubling the Foundation's operations. We can do it if we get a $10 donation from each new member as he comes into Rotary, and if each Rotarian will give only one dollar a year. That's a bargain purchase, one dollar's worth of future good citizenship! 6. Let's promote better citizenship itself-for ourselves as Rotarians and for our neighbors. Encouraging people to vote... adopting naturalized citizens... sponsoring forums and debates on public issues-our opportunities are as wide as our communities' needs. There they are: six objectives for our Golden Year. Six ways to build better men, communities, and the world. What will you do about them? The heart of what I have tried to say to you, my fellow Rotarian? You will find it in some verse by that great poet Edwin Markham: We are blind until we see That, in the human plan, Nothing is worth the making if It does not make the man. Why build these cities glorious If man unbuilded goes? In vain we build the world unless The builder also grows.