The Rotund Rotarian
An Image or an outrage?
(With inspiration from here & there Some of written below is my own original thoughts but if I claim this to be wholly my original writing then The purpose of writing what I have written is wholly lost)
A wicked wit is said to have said that while Rotary Clubs might grid the entire free world, the conjoined circumferences of the Rotarians waistlines will easily equal the equator. I myself must confess to being above average in this respect. I have claimed it to be a sign of success, the visible symbol of prosperity, and the out ward expression of a happy man. But, deep inside I know myself to be a loser in the battle (not entirely, I may have lost few battles, but not yet lost the war) of the bulge, but still fighting hard. I have to admit to being in the illustrious company of “Rotund Rotarians”.
But does our flabbiness stop with the figure? Or does it extend to our outlook on life? Are we pot bellied organizationally? Are our thoughts as unruly as our muscles? Are our loudly lauded projects only the guilty reflexes of an overloaded conscience? Are we really the “fat cats” of popular conceptions?
Or do we represent the active conscience of social justice? Does not the popular image of a Rotarian as a “do-gooder” spring at least partly from a certain self-righteous smugness on our part? Do we beat our breasts too loudly to the local press and in self adulation? Do we exude complacency along with our pinch of generosity? Do we not vitiate our virtuous effort by an all too obvious superficiality of interest?
Is our so-called fellowship all too hollow and shallow? Does our concern with each other end with the dessert? Do we apply the 4 Way Test only to the four courses of our Rotary Dinner? Are we in any way responsible for the general conception of a Rotarian as an epitome of false brotherhood? Are we rewarding “personal loyalties at the expense of loyalty & dedication to Rotary? Do we wear our smiles in our sleeves and our hearts in our purses? Do we meet once a week for “Service Above Self” or “service about self”.
I have put forth this avalanche of questions in your collective faces with no malice in my heart towards none, because I am one of you, THE EMINENT ROTUND ROTARIAN. It is impossible to imagine – let alone expect – perfection in a man or in an organization, but let us be choosy in our imperfections and above all honest in our acceptance of it. “Let us not become the victims of our own delusions”. (I love this quote, it came to me, must have read somewhere some time).
Hence the need for a new and penetrating look at ourselves. It may be too much too demand that success and self sacrifice should go hand in hand but it should not happen that eminence in business or vocation should find sincerity a strange bedfellow. It is true that successful man is a busy man, but it should not be tolerated that such member remains as one without adequate involvement. Affluence & success are necessary, but must not be precondition to participate in Rotary. On the other hand success may place a Rotarian in elevated position but we must not let it cause us to look down on the fellowman.
Success comes rather late in life to most, and since leadership in our professions, business, or vocation is a guiding spirit of our classification principles, it is bound to be that the physical image of the average Rotarian is that of the Rotund Rotarian & alas rotundity is almost unavoidable in later life. Be that as it may, let not the image of Rotary itself be that of a smug, self-opinionated, insincere, inflated windbag – for that to my mind should be absolute no-no (taboo) to any Rotarian – the very ultimate outrage! Let the cordial image of the Rotund Rotarian remind us of the need for every Rotarian to act upon the square in humanity, in sincerity, and in service.
