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Our time on this earthis finite, and it’s
alwaysshorter than we think.
How do we want tospend it? Will we give
ofourselves to others, so that the world will
be richer because we passed through it? Or
will we spend our days, as the famous Indian
poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote, in stringing
and unstringing our instruments, while the
song we came to sing remains unsung?
The glory of Rotary is that it helps us find a
way to sing that song. It guides us on a path
to living richer, more meaningful lives, by
encouraging us to focus our attention on the
things that matter — and helping each of us
find our own way to be a gift to the world.
If we ask ourselves what characteristics we
value most in our friends, most of us would
answer similarly: integrity, trustworthiness,
caring, compatibility. Our friends are not
necessarily the people who are most like us
but the ones who complement us, who bring
out the best in us. That, to me, is precisely
what we can find in Rotary.
Rotary is a way to bring out the best part of
ourselves, and let it guide our lives. Too
often, we spend our days in pursuit of the
goals that should matter least. We focus our
attention on our own achievements and our
own gain; we devote endless energy to the
accumulation of material things. Yet at the
end of our lives, no one will remember us for
the cars we drove, the clothes we wore, the
titles we carried, or the offices we sat in. We
will not be admired for the efforts we poured
into making our own lives richer or our own
status higher. In the end, our worth will be
measured not by how much we acquired,
but by how much we gave away.
Will we avert our eyes from suffering, or will
we alleviate it? Will we speak words of com-
passion,or will we act on them? Will we be
content only to take from the world — or will
we give to it?
In the 2015-16 Rotary year, our theme will
be Be a Gift to the World.
Every one of us has something to give —
whoever we are, whatever our place in life.
We can give our talent, our knowledge, our
abilities, and our effort; we can give our dedi-
cation and our devotion.
Through Rotary, we can take these gifts and
make a genuine difference in the lives of
others and in our
world.Itis said that we are
born with our fists clenched,but we die with
our hands open, and that our talents are the
gift that God gave us. What we make of our
talents is our gift back to God.
Equally we come into this world grasping at
everything, but when we leave it, we leave
all material things behind as well. Through
Rotary,we can leave behind something real
and lasting.
Our time is now. It will never come again.
Be a Gift to the World.
K.R. “Ravi” Ravindran
President, Rotary International, 2015-16
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