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Messages from the President [July 1912]
(cover of the July
1912 issue of The Rotarian)
Paul P. Harris
Rotarianism is a step in the evolution of humanity and in
the emancipation of man from the exactions of unceasing
servitude to the interests of self.
Spoke by Spoke the Rotary Wheel is Being Sheldonized.
We
are given to understand that the above epigram is the product of
the fertile brain of one R. R. Rogers.
Is
the epigram true?
Yes, it's true ‑ not sadly true, gladly true - and I will tell
you why.
"By unselfishly helping others to succeed, we make progress
toward success."
Sheldon and Sheldon men have done much, very much for Rotary on
this side of the water while Rotarianism and Sheldonism are
doing a veritable lock step on the other side,
Mr. Sheldon has spoken a number of times before the London Club
and the Manchester Club. He is at home again for a few days now,
but we are at present perfecting arrangeinents for addresses to
be delivered by him during the month of July before the Dublin,
Belfast and Glasgow Clubs. Our progress across the Continent of
Europe and to the Antipodes will, to all probability, be in his
good company though that will be after my day.
If
Rotary becomes Sheldonized, it will be because Sheldon gives
generously of himself to Rotary. One can't give incessantly
without getting something in return.
What is Rotarianism?
There are already more than Six Thousand answers to that
question ‑ and there are many, many more to follow. How do I
make that out? There are more than Six Thousand Rotarians in the
world and many more to come. Each has his own individual
conception of Rotarianism and he will continue to have it even
if a brief concise definition of the word be generally accepted.
You can't hold Rotarianism in words any longer than you can hold
the spirit of brotherly love in a bushel basket.
Rotarianism is to you and to me what you and I would have it.
Intellectual conceptions may be reduced to exact phraseology or
pretty near it, but your grasp of Rotarianism is not a mental
process alone ‑ it involves the necessity of heart action. If
you have more of the milk of human kindness in your heart than I
have in mine, then your conception of Rotarianism is higher than
mine. Rotarianism runs through the whole gamut of human
sentiment, and may be as exalted in the mind of one as it is
debased in the mind of another. Rotarianism will endure. May
your Rotarianism and mine pass muster.
Club Patronage.
I
recently met a Rotarian whose heart was heavy laden. His club
had for particular reasons which reflected not the slightest
discredit upon my friend, given a considerable item of business
to one of his competitors.
Until I had thought of the matter some considerable time, I was
unable to sympathize with him. My uppermost thought was that
membership in Rotary entails no obligation to patronize and
therefore my friend ought not feel hurt. Then it occurred to me
that the item in question was a piece of club business, and
while technically it is true that the management of the club
ought exercise the same judgment in making club purchases that
they would in making their own, the fact nevertheless remains
that in the case of club business, it being given to a
competitor of a club member might hurt. It might hurt the member
in the estimation of his fellow members and it might injure the
reputation of the member in the estimation of outsiders.
Possibly the competitor who obtained the business might make an
unfair use of the circumstance in telling about it to the trade.
Is
there any obligation upon the individual member of Rotary to
patronize fellow members?
That question has been emphatically answered No! and our
organization is such that we must avoid even suspicion of the
existence of such obligation.
Is
there obligation on the part of Rotary Clubs to patronize
members when in need of supplies within their line?
In
answer to this question, is it not proper to say that there is
no obligation that is peculiar to Rotary Clubs? There is an
unwritten law in clubs and organizations of all sorts that club
patronage should be given to members who contribute to the
support of the club. Rotary Clubs surely are no exception to the
rule. Rotary encourages a spirit of helpfulness and therefore
should be keenly responsive to the demands of this general rule.
Life's Lesson.
What are we here for?
To
learn a lesson.
What lesson are we here to learn?
The only lesson, the lesson how to wean ourselves from
ourselves. We have to learn it; there is no escape. If we fail
to learn it of our own accord, it will be forced upon us. Sooner
or later, we must inevitably be separated from self. The
phenomena may be reserved for the last day here or it may come
naturally, gradually, yes gratefully.
At
eighteen, you were One Hundred per cent Ego, were you not? You
were not merely self centered, you were self through and
through. Thomas Carlyle said that at that age man attains the
maximum of detestability.
Then came business; you made a surrender. Then you were married,
and with your marriage came another capitulation with the forces
of self. And if you and your helpmate were fortunate enough to
have children, by the time that event took place, there really
was very little left of that one hundred per cent of Ego and
your separation from it had all come so gradually, so naturally
and so gratefully that you scarcely realized what was going on
within. Each experience was looked forward to, anticipated with
an indescribable pleasure. Sacrifices? Yes, they might have been
called that, but you would have fought desperately for the
privilege of making them.
Yours was the natural way to learn the lesson. It was the way
your mother learned it. Her life was the best exemplification of
the doctrine of "Service not Self" you have ever known. When the
final day came, there was little left for her to surrender. She
was not more than one per cent Ego. The one percent flickered
and went out but the ninety‑nine lived and lives and will
continue to life.
What are we here for?
To
learn a lesson.
What lesson?
Life's lesson.
Which one of Life's lessons?
Life's only real lesson; that in which we learn how to separate
ourselves from ourselves.
Rotary in Paris.
Mr. Elmer R. Murphey, President James H. Rhodes & Company of
Chicago, has scored another point for Rotary. He has established
a club in gay Paris. From Paris he returned to London where he
remained just long enough to address the London Club before
sailing for home. We await, with interest, Elmer's story.
PAUL P. HARRIS,
(Attorney‑at‑Law, No. 127 North Dearborn St., Chicago.)
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