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The Friendship of Rotary (Also
See the 1922 Convention)
...Rotary is the door to friendship. Let
us throw it open to every people.
...The
radio and the wireless telegraphy seem
wonderful indeed, but they are simply
child's play as compared with the things
God has done and is doing every day. Man
need never fear the coming of the day
when there will be nothing new to
discover. The wonders of the cosmos seem
to afford an inexhaustible supply.
The inspirational message
written by the President Emeritus of Rotary International and
founder of the first Rotary Club and read to the convention at
Los Angeles
To my friends of Rotary,
Greeting:
 It is a wonderful thing to have
friends‑many good, staunch, and loyal friends. They warm the
heart and brighten up life's pathway.
Friendship is a culture. And
friendliness is the mark of refinement of nature.
Friendship has many ways of
expressing itself ‑ politeness, courtesy, affability, geniality,
kindness, and thoughtfulness. It is always constructive; as
definitely and certainly so as enmity is destructive.
Enmity is elemental. The enmity
of a moment, at times undoes the friendliness of a generation,
just as a bullet from a bandit's gun can snuff out a beautiful
life upon which loving hearts depend, or the discharge of heavy
ordnance, demolish a superb cathedral; and yet friendship
usually wins in the long run because enmity is
self‑destructive.
Rotary is the door to
friendship. Let us throw it open to every people.
What a notable struggling
advance it has been from primitive man of the bloody club and
his gibbering rage. And whence are we bound ‑ and why? Surely,
our goal is the brotherhood of man and we are going in that
direction.
There was a time when friendship
stretched to its utmost possible tension, could embrace only a
pitiful few - a family group perhaps. Then the minds and hearts
of men began to expand and though full of suspicions because of
the violation of traditions involved, man came slowly,
reluctantly, hesitatingly to the point of loyalty to clan, but
all of the rest of the world was darkness.
And the minds and hearts of men
once more expanded. They suppressed suspicions, jealousies, and
hatreds and there was born that spirit which we reverence yet:
the love of country. And for that love men were content to live
and die. It was a far cry indeed from the man of the bloody club
to him who was willing to give his all for his country, but he
who thinks that man has reached the height of his estate learns
no lesson from history.
When we look back and think, we
wonder at the persistence of man's desire for friendship. As
rapidly as the means of gratifying one ambition for an
enlargement of the circle of friends have materialized other and
larger ambitions have presented themselves‑in fact, the progress
of civilization itself has been, has it not, largely a quest of
friendship?
Nations as well as individuals
may become surfeited with some things, but we have yet to learn
of the nation possessed of too many friends.
Is it not true that most of the
signal mistakes of history have been in the failure of
diplomatists to realize that psychology influences the affairs
of nations just as it influences the affairs of individuals.
The school‑boy bully fights
frequently and in the long runs fares badly, for he has few
sympathizers. The bellicose nation soon comes to grief.
Nations fatally miscalculate
when they conclude that fear is a more impelling motive than
love.
Poets have sung the beauties of
friendship and brotherly love until the sentimental has obscured
the practical, but if there is in this world a policy which
pays, be its application to the individual or to a nation, it is
the policy embraced in the words, "Whatsoever ye would that men
should do unto you, do ye even so unto them."
Friendship is a living
force, not a mere indulgence. Friendship is something
more than conviviality. If it were nothing more than
conviviality, Rotary might well turn back for precept
and example to the roistering days of long ago.
Friendship, like happiness, is frequently elusive when
directly sought, while it as frequently comes to men
unsought when they are working together in a worth‑while
cause.
The best minds of the most
advanced nations are addressing themselves to the task of
finding ways and means to establish universal and permanent
peace. Utopian? Perhaps. But we have already traveled a long,
long way from him of the bloody club.
Rotary occupies a position of
matchless strategic importance of which good use must be made in
aid of this most laudable purpose. Let us make the utmost of our
opportunities to cultivate personal friendship with men of other
nations. I would love some day to truthfully say that I have
friends in every civilized country of the globe. If neither you
nor I live to realize such a blessing, perhaps those of the next
generation may. The desired result can be achieved only by
putting aside national differences and cultivating a charitable
disposition toward civilizations essentially different from our
own.
Having started the march there
is, of course, only one logical and proper objective and that is
that every nation be ultimately gathered together under one huge
flag, the flag of universal brotherhood, and man will never be
content to cease his efforts until that one great objective is
achieved. Does it not seem probable that this majestic
undertaking constitutes the one supreme test to which God has
subjected his creatures.
Today, a wireless message
may be flashed around the world in less time than it took
the man of the bloody club to get a thought through his own
stupid brain.
The extraordinary
significance of recent electrical discoveries will be
eclipsed by others yet to come. Time and space have been
wiped out as factors in the opposition of man's communion
with his fellow men.
It was my privilege on one
occasion to simultaneously address from Chicago the members of
the Rotary Clubs of New York and San Francisco. The time is not
far distant when Rotary speakers will simultaneously address the
members of one thousand Rotary clubs scattered throughout the
United States and Canada. The radio service will be used on
occasions such as the celebration of the birth of Rotary, and
eventually it will be possible to attend Rotary conventions
without leaving home.
And yet all of the achievements
of men, startling as they seem, are as nothing compared with the
wonders of the universe around and about us.
Yonder in the heavens there
seems to me to be a star, but in reality the star I see is not
the star I think I see at all. The star I see is a star of two
thousand years ago. It has taken all that time for its light to
reach the earth. Even though I am told of the almost unthinkable
velocity of light, I can have but the vaguest possible idea of
the immensity of the space which separates yon star from me.
The radio and the wireless
telegraphy seem wonderful indeed, but they are simply
child's play as compared with the things God has done and is
doing every day. Man need never fear the coming of the day
when there will be nothing new to discover. The wonders of
the cosmos seem to afford an inexhaustible supply.
While our wonder at the
incomprehensible vastness of the universe is still fresh,
scientists turn our attention to equally incomprehensible
wonders contained in mites so small that they are invisible to
the human eye. The sum total of all that the man of the bloody
club knew of all things in the universe would not constitute a
chapter nor a page on the books that are written of these
microscopic things.
Many of the achievements of
science are beyond the comprehension of most of us. The works of
the Infinite baffle thought. The most that we can do is to
wonder and then to resolve that now that many of the barriers
which separate men from their brothers have been so miraculously
removed, there must be a spiritual renaissance which will be in
keeping with the importance of these material conquests.
The bickerings of men have been,
by these wonders, put to ignominious shame. Let us view life in
a more rational perspective. It would be a pity, would it not,
if with all of our material progress there should still remain
any vestige of the old‑fashioned, narrow, provincialism which
has characterized previous times.
There is no gain saying the fact
that this is something more than an age of monumental
discoveries; it is an age of striving and yearning. Mankind
slips and stumbles at times but it is nevertheless incessantly
struggling upwards. I sincerely believe that life has yet more
unrevealed beauties than have ever as yet been discovered. I am
certain it is not more money that we need. We need enlightenment
‑ a better understanding of the every‑day blessings which are
within the reach of all. There's music in the song of the lark
for those who have ears to hear, and there's beauty in the lily
and fragrance in the rose. The next time civilization takes a
spurt, I hope that it will be in the direction of more
attractive homes, good books, more music and better health.
These things make for happiness.
Cicero said that
the best way to insure health and happiness during the later
years of life was to be interested in the affairs of the state;
in other words, to forget one's petty cares and ailments and to
interest oneself in others.
Is that not the normal thing to
do?
Why should a man continue to
strive for more wealth after he has acquired reasonable
sufficiency?
The money quest is largely
habit, is it not? ‑ or is it a disease? Whatever it may be it
has a deadly grip.
There is a growing number of
men, however, who possess sufficient character to enable them to
master their own destinies, to turn abruptly in their tracks
when the time comes to give up the pursuit of the almighty
dollar and devote themselves to their second business: attention
to the world's needs.
The larger this number becomes
the easier it will be for others to follow. The progress of
civilization depends upon these men of character.
Let us experience the pleasure
of helping the helpless. Rotary has already made great progress
in this direction. The men who are back of Rotary's
crippled‑children movement firmly believe the time will come
when crippled children will be seldom seen.
These things speak for
themselves. They do not need to be advertised. The best
publicity slogan of which I have ever heard is to be found in
the words: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand
doeth."
Let us study life as the student
of the atomic theory studies his electron; as the astronomer
studies the stars: and though it is neither given us to know
whence we came or whither we go, let us ever be firm in the
conviction that the Infinite purpose is a kindly one and worthy
our untiring support.
Let us be good sports in this
good old game. It's better by far than horse‑racing, more
fascinating than cricket or baseball. It is indeed the king of
all sports; this good old, engrossing game called LIFE.
Let us play it to the limit in a
spirit that is ever friendly, and ever fair.
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