Frank Deaver Peace Editorials

     An annual award presented at the RI Convention is the “Rotary Award for World Understanding and Peace.”  Often cited in Rotary is the goal of promoting “world understanding and goodwill.”  This emphasis may be heard so often that its meaning is inadequately appreciated.

     The word “understanding” enters our conversation regularly, but true understanding is challenging.  Much of what we think we understand is in fact understood only in part, or our “understanding” is based more on stereotypes than on reality

     This is particularly true in a world context, with multiple cultures, races, languages, religions, and traditions involved.  Few among us could honestly claim to fully understand another society.  Recognition of this fact makes Rotary’s emphasis on “World Understanding” all the more important, all the more challenging.

     Rotary, by its very structure, encourages and facilitates international understanding.  Our organization is not just Rotary, but Rotary International.  We send and receive international scholars and Group Study Exchange teams.  We read The Rotarian magazine, loaded with information from around the world.  Our District Governor pays at least an annual visit to each club, interpreting RI programs and goals.  And many of our members travel abroad.

     Understanding starts with an open mind, a genuine interest in knowing about other societies and their ways.  While it is tempting to think of “our way” as the “right way,” we may come to recognize that “their way” is no less right, and for their society may be preferable.

     As we travel abroad or otherwise interact with people from another society, we may be tempted to make prejudiced comparisons.  (By the way, the word “prejudice” means “to pre-judge,” or to make up our minds based on incomplete information or understanding.)

     In anticipation of international travel or contacts, Rotarians can advance World Understanding by considering the “Ten Commandments” of travel:

1. Cultivate a genuine desire to learn more about the people of another society.  Be sensitive to their feelings and avoid anything that would offend.
2. Try listening, not just hearing; observing, not just seeing.  You will be the richer for it, and your genuine interest will not go unnoticed.
3. Develop the habit of asking more questions, not “knowing all the answers.”  If they want to know “how we do it,” they will ask.
4. Recognize that different societies have different mannerisms, customs, time concepts, thought patterns.  Theirs are not inferior to ours, only different.
5. Avoid being critical of those who don’t speak your language.  You’re in their country, and they speak their own language quite well.  Learn at least a few polite phrases and greetings in their language.
6. Instead of looking for that beach or mountain paradise, discover the enrichment of coming to understand another society’s everyday life.
7. Use your camera, but not to invade the privacy of others.
8. When you are shopping, remember that the “bargain” you obtain may be the result of poverty-level wages paid the workers.  Don’t compound the exploitation by bragging how little you paid.
9. Do not make promises to people you meet unless you can carry them through.
10. Spend some time each day reflecting on that day’s experiences, in an attempt to deepen your understanding.

     World Understanding is not so much a destination as an ongoing journey; not an accomplishment but a process; not an end but a means to mutually beneficial ends.

     Rotarians have already contributed much to “World Understanding and Goodwill.”  It is up to each of us to continue that tradition.