WHY WE COME TOGETHER

By

Greg Lynch

President (2003-2004)

Rotary Club of New York

This week we had the pleasure of welcoming a brother Rotarian from our twin club, the Rotary Club of Milano Acqueleia. The occasion of his visit was our annual celebration of “Italy Day”, a festive commemoration of the cultural and community links we Rotarians share with the Italian community. The evening before Italy Day, we had a family style dinner with a few members of the Club and their spouses. Our guest of honor, Renato Sacchi, regaled us with stories of pasta in Italy; the new technologies of making the sauce cling to the macaroni, treating the pasta so that it would always come out al dente and the pesky crisis of homemakers moving away from high “carb” dining. It was a uniquely Italian conversation, and it really put me in the mood for our event.

This traditional “national day” brings out a big crowd, and this year was no exception. Visitors and Club members crowded into the swell dig that is the Princeton Club. Not only was the Consul General of Italy, the Honorable Antonio Bandini, in attendance but much of the Italian intelligencia resident in New York. There were bank presidents, university department heads, and representatives of Italian industry, wine merchants and restaurateurs. We ate lasagna with wild boar sauce and, then, chocolate mouse. We drank proseccco, merlot and Columbian coffee. We raffled tickets, generously donated by Alitalia, and other prizes, including Missoni ties, Bulgari scarves and nights on the town. We were told stories of the land of the poor immigrant now become the source of luxury products for the wealthy. We toasted to friendship. I have tried to make sense of this event in the mosaic of our Rotary Club and have had to give it a bit of thought.

A number of years ago, when I was recently a member of New York Rotary, I had a lawyer in my office who very much enjoyed referring to me as “Babbitt”, alluding to the fictional character, George Follanbee Babbitt, of Sinclair Lewis’ 1922 novel, about a bourgeoisie, self-indulgent member of an unnamed “club” who spent his professional hours scheming money from customers and his hours of “service” gossiping about and imbibing with his club cronies in their shallow version of the “good life”. I never paid my nay-saying colleague much mind. I have always, and unwaveringly, believed in the Rotary model of service. So when I finally relented on getting him to one of our meetings, I would good-naturedly laugh off his gibes. I did question this week, though, what would have been his perception of our Rotary values in the setting of this most festive lunch.

This questioning, in turn, has brought me back to a consideration of the Objects of Rotary. First, we foster the “ideal of service”. Yes, in fact, our brother Rotarian Renato made a very moving presentation about our joint centennial project on the buruli disease and the progress of our efforts in lending technology and material assistance in the country of Benin. Together and separately our two Clubs raise substantial funds for this worthy cause and there were many present at this gala lunch that help and can help much more in the fight for a cure.

Indeed, the event was truly an example of our commitment to “the development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service”. Then again, as we socialize, we have the opportunity to interact with our visitors and to demonstrate to them the significance of our occupational diversity. Our ethical unity is clear as we pledge to one another our Four Way Test at the end of each meeting. In so doing, we recommit ourselves to “high ethical standards in businesses and profession; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying by each Rotarian of their occupation as an opportunity to serve society”. We utilize occasions, such as Italy Day to bring Rotarians and community leaders together again in furtherance of the “ideal of service” and as a living example of the application of this principle “by every Rotarian to their personal, business and community life”. Fourth and lastly - and this is the easy one in the context of our Italy Day celebration, we encourage and foster

“The advancement of international

Understanding, good will and peace through

A world of fellowship of business and

Professional men and women united in the

‘Ideal of Service’”.

Ninety years ago, in October 1914, our New York Club publication, Spokes, first introduced Rotary’s commitment to international peace and understanding with the following ad:

The Great Good That Can Come

From The European War

The Disarmament of Nations

The Establishment of an

International Court

This Will Insure Permanent Peace.*

Today, perhaps, we are all less convinced of the inevitably positive outcome of war. Yet, we, as Rotarians, are committed to democracy, committed to the quest for peace and the primacy of the peaceful resolution of disputes over any call to arms. We are equally committed to a world where hunger, ignorance and disease are permanently replaced by proper nutrition, education and good health.

It is a fact of current events that both Americans and Italians are serving with distinction in battlefields far from home, not because we choose to but because each of us, in our own homelands, have tasted the bitterness of terror. Both our societies contribute significantly to international peacekeeping. Our men and women stand guard in obscure corners of the world, giving peace a chance. Then also, both cultures profess a strong and abiding commitment to international human rights. We do not always agree on the details. Florence is the global center for efforts to abolish the death penalty, while New York is a death penalty state. So we lucky citizens of both cultures can and do engage in an ongoing dialogue of values. Equally, we constantly seek an understanding of the dynamics of applying abstract values to the realities of our lives. For those too weak, downtrodden and oppressed to rise up alone, we offer an open hand assistance and solidarity.

Perhaps, then I have begun to understand. When we raise our glasses and voices in festive celebration, we are really raising a torch in remembrance of those who have sacrificed that we may be free, for those who maintain the peace, far away yes, but not forgotten. Perhaps, in celebrating our common values, the ideals of service, of our freedom to question, of sharing friendship without fear, and even a full belly, we are “representing” for all of our fellow human beings who struggle to attain what we have, and who help us understand better what we hold dear: life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

Greg Lynch, 6/3/04

*Special thanks to PP Richard Sainburg, New York Rotary Club Historian