For whom these Rotarians toil
25 November 2002

In many institutions, notably service organizations, men and women have been volunteering their time, energies and talents to service these organizations and in the process bringing very much needed services to the people who need them most. Many of these individuals work quietly, often unnoticed, and hence unrewarded and unrecognized.

We believe that many Rotarians may fit into the description. These are, in the words of many RI leaders, soldiers in the trenches and in the frontline doing the day to day work, getting their hands dirty and taking services directly to the people Rotary professes to serve.

Some of these Rotarians, perchance or by merits, take up senior or leadership positions in the heirarchy and find themselves taking decisions at club, district or international level. They might then have fewer opportunities for trench warfare, but would increasingly and unavoidably be involved in other fares of a more theoretical or administrative type. Technically, they have become service providers of the frontline soldiers in the trenches.

This is how Rotary produces successive generations of leaders of every variety and at every level. It is important that Rotarians be aware of the process, which begins from the time a club elects its president, to when clubs elect their district governor and so on. Every individual in the heirarchy is a service provider. The only difference is the receipients. Rotarians in senior or leadership positions do not have more authority. Rather, they have more responsibilities and perhaps more opportunities to serve.

December is round the corner. In this month, every club will elect the next crop of leaders and the district, its governor. We hope that Rotarians will carry out these elections with the seriousness they deserve and have regard to the people for whom Rotarians have pledged to toil.