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”He will look beyond national
patriotism and consider himself as sharing
responsibility for the advancement of international understanding, good
will,and peace.
He will resist any tendency to act in terms of national or racial
superiority.”
A PROFESSOR of Princeton University recalls his brief acquaintance with a
sailor in
San
Francisco - a boy on his way home to Chicago after long service in the Pacific
area. The magic of the city of the Golden Gate apparently made no impression on him.
Asked why he did not like San Francisco, he pondered the question for a moment
and
then replied with conviction: "Well, this here town isn't Chicago."
"In a flash," the
professor remarks, "I felt that I understood more of the nature
of nationalism than many a learned tome had ever taught me."
Breathes there the man with soul so
dead
Who never to himself has said:
"This is my own, my native land."
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned
As home his footsteps he hath turned
From wandering on a foreign strand?
If such there breathe, go, mark him well
For him no minstrel raptures swell:
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim -
Despite those titles, power and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown,
And doubly dying shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
These unforgettable lines
of Sir Walter Scott provide emotional overtones for
that part of the Outline of Policy which states the premise for international
service: Each
Rotarian is expected to be.. . a loyal
and serving citizen of
his own country. It is
taken for granted as a natural extension of the motto,
"Service Above Self".
Nationalism, often indicted
for narrowness, is not really narrow in origin; in
essence it is an expansive,
generous attitude of which only "the wretch
concentred all in
self" is incapable. One Rotarian speaking at a convention of
Rotary International
recalled the Latin proverb: Dulce et decorum est pro patria
mori (how sweet and seemly
it is to die for the fatherland) and continued:
It takes a high order of
patriotism to make a man willing to die for his
country, but it takes an
even higher order of patriotism to make a man willing
to die, if need be, to make
his country right when his country is wrong. Then
patriotism, when it comes
to its very climax, is that patriotism we find in one
of Rotary's principles
where it talks about international good will and
understanding, where it
gets big enough to leap across national boundaries and
encompass all humanity.
Looking back over man's
journey through the ages, this same impulse to leap over
local barriers is
discovered from age to age. As he crept into the shelter of a
tribal cave, the primitive
savage foreshadowed the dictum of the philosopher
Hobbes that "the life
of man without society is poor, mean, nasty, brutish, and
short." When tribes
resisting an invader submitted to a common order of battle,
the seeds of a larger
relationship were planted. Later, there were moats,
bridges, and walls to hold
the communities inside - and the intruders outside.
With growth of
communication and expanding horizons of men's interests and
enterprises, cities and
states began to merge into nations.
The process is vividly
personalized in Bernard Shaw's play, Saint Joan, where
the Earl of Warwick and the
Bishop of Beauvais are discussing the Maid's appeal
as a menace to their feudal
interests. They marvel that a simple peasant girl
could look beyond her farm
and village to conceive of France as her country.
Yet indeed she did, and her
countrymen rallied eagerly to her vision. "The old
order changes, giving place
to new." Normans, Bretons, Gascons, and the rest
emerge as Frenchmen devoted
to homeland.
Similarly, a "new
order" was articulated by a Japanese student who wrote the
winning essay in an
international understanding and good will contest sponsored
by a Rotary club. She
wrote:
Each country has its own
peculiar way of life, cultivated through her long
history and acclimatized to
her natural circumstance; to such a way of life only
one principle can not be
applied. As the proverb says, 'Every man in his
humor', each country is destined
to have its own special character . It is
absolutely necessary for
all countries to understand each other's character so
as to promote mutual
friendship and good will, before running the risk of
opposition or strife .
Individual fundamental
human rights must be respected, even if someone has a
different idea from ours -
because he is Man. In the same way, the sovereignty
of a country must
reasonably be respected, no matter how different there way of
life may be. To expect the
prosperity and welfare of one's country alone -
disregarding the happiness
of others - is wrong . Only when we build up a firm,
true friendship based on
the generous approval of others, can we hope for the
eternal peace of the world
.
The path of patriotism, far
from embarrassing the Rotarian, is proposed to him
as the basis of
international service. It leads to wider acquaintance, based on
respect and mutual esteem.
In the mind of the Rotarian there is no more
contradiction between
patriotism and international-mindedness than there is
between being a good father
of his family and being a worthy citizen of his
community. Can the one, in
fact, be accomplished without the other?
A contradiction does exist,
however, in some minds. Perhaps the study of
history, which Gibbon
called "the register of the crimes, follies, and
misfortunes of
mankind", contributes to this feeling. There is a kind of
patriotism which is
nourished by grievances and fears, which exists mostly to
foment hatred and hysteria
for selfish ends, and which becomes, in the words of
Doctor Johnson, "the
last resort of scoundrels".
The best defense against
this kind of patriotism is a more careful examination
of national pride and of
the directions toward which it leads. Would not the
people of your country -
any country - be happier and safer if the foe of today
were transformed into a
friend? It can happen. It is happening, and it has
happened repeatedly
throughout history. For centuries the French and the
English were at daggers
drawn. They disputed the supremacy of Europe in bitter
warfare - on the continent
and over the seven seas from the wildernesses of
America to the steaming swamps of India. Later, they became friends. To the
embattled patriots of
bygone days this friendship might be incredible treason,
yet both countries have
benefited in security and prosperity. Much of the
progress of the great
nineteenth century became possible when the enmity between
England and France were laid to rest.
Probing even deeper, do we
love our country because of the hatred and fear she
evokes in men of other
nations? Or, is not that hostility a source of shame and
sorrow? Do we not glory in
our country's contribution to the spiritual,
cultural, and material
progress of mankind? And is not the true patriot the
person who enlarges the
glory of his land by projecting his service beyond its
boundaries?
Through much analysis, the
true patriot builds a strong defense. Looking beyond
national patriotism, as
suggested in the Outline of Policy, true patriotism
justifies itself. Yet, in
the process of self-justification there is danger.
In the Outline, a warning
immediately follows: He will resist any tendency to
act in terms of national or
racial superiority.
Now, the tables are turned.
The critic is no longer outside in the person of
the chauvinist. Now the
enemy is seen as coming from within - from the human
tendency to seek
superiority. It is not easy to resist, so desperately we want
to be right. And it is
difficult to be right without being self-righteous.
A Chinese Rotarian illustrated
the harm done to international relations by
thoughtless, prideful
assertions of superiority - among his own people along
with the rest. He called it
one of the major factors holding back the advance
of civilization, the secret
weapon of those who would divide in order to
enslave.
The following letter,
written in 1793 and sent from the emperor of China, Ch'ien
Lung, to King George III of
England, illustrates and ages-old, universal
problem:
"You, O King, live
beyond the confines of many seas; nevertheless, impelled by
your humble desire to
partake of the benefits of our civilization, you have
dispatched a mission
respectfully bearing your memorial. . I have perused your
memorial; the earnest terms
in which it is couched reveal a respectful humility
. which is praiseworthy .
If you assert that your
reverence for our Celestial Dynasty fills you with
desire to acquire our
civilization, our ceremonies and code of laws differ so
completely from your own
that, even if your envoy were able to acquire the
rudiments of our
civilization, you could not possibly transport our manners and
customs to your alien soil.
.
"Swaying the wide
world, I have but one aim in view, namely, to maintain a
perfect governance and to
fulfill the duties of the state. Strange and costly
objects do not interest me.
If I have commanded that the tribute offerings sent
by you, O King, are to be
accepted, this was solely in consideration for the
spirit which prompted you
to dispatch them from afar. Our Dynasty's majestic
virtue has penetrated into
every country under Heaven, and kings of all nations
have offered their costly
tribute by land and sea. As your ambassador can see
for himself, we possess all
things. ."
Yet, within our own persons
we carry around this tendency to trumpet our
superiority. IT is often
seen in tourists and those who live abroad, in the
reception of immigrants, or
in the treatment of persons of another race. Brutal
assertions of national or
racial superiority are no more bitterly remembered
than half-conscious gestures
of condescension. They are entered into the record
of wrath that poisons
international relations.
A Rotarian and his wife
from Texas, U.S.A., were traveling in France and stopped
at a small village inn for
the night. The lady at the registration desk must
have heard of Texas, for she smiled knowingly at the
wide-brimmed hat worn by
the man. When she heard him
say, "My wife and I would like a room for the
night," she reddened
and stammered a little.
"You do have rooms,
don't you?" the man asked.
"Oui, monsieur, we
have rooms, but they are not what you Americans say -
moderne. They are not the
best, monsieur."
"Madam," said the
man from Texas, "where we come from all you need is a blanket
and a pile of hay. We'll be
glad to stay with you."
Of such is the record of
personal humility and respect which brightens
international relations.
We may be helped toward the
path of genuine patriotism by reminding ourselves
that, personally, we have
added little to the store of our national or racial
greatness, and that
individually many persons of other nations and races surpass
us in accomplishment. What
is within our power is a willingness to serve
through developing
acquaintance with them.
Rotarians enjoy special
privileges in the field of acquaintance; over the world,
to cite one example, there
are many Rotary clubs with different nationalities
represented in their
membership. Many clubs claim a score or more whose
harmonious co-operation is
regarded as an important service to the community, to
say nothing of its broader
implications for mankind. As conceived by one
pioneer of Rotary:
If Rotary had been
especially constructed to serve only in this capacity, it
could not be a more perfect
machine. It shocks no faith, for all religions are
equally welcome within its
portals. There are no secrets, no mysterious rites
to raise doubts in the
minds of non-Rotarians. And then, most happily, its
great objective is
simplicity itself, understandable to all men. What a
splendid banner to emblazon
to al suffering world.
It should be clearly
understood, however, that the abolition of national,
religious, and cultural
differences is not a part of the Rotary program. On the
contrary, the diversity of
human expression is regarded as a matter for
rejoicing, and never as a
barrier to understanding and co-operation. In a world
which is shrinking with
each jet-propelled second, how dull it would be if this
earth's glorious variety
were reduced to drab uniformity! Much of the pleasure
- and yes, the fun - of
international service is in discovery and appreciation
of these cherished
differences.
This is not to minimize the
problems created by differences, for Rotarians in
more that 100 countries and
geographical regions have special reason for being
aware of these problems.
From the Union of South Africa comes a story of Rotary
action in the face of
differences and of danger, too. On the Wednesday
following serious riots in
neighboring towns, the Rotary club had arranged to
sponsor a concert given by
the prize-winners of a Bantu music festival. One of
the trophies to be awarded
was a gift from a Rotarian in the British Isles but,
under the circumstances,
the question was raised whether Rotarians should attend
the concert with their
wives.
Upon reflection, however, club
members took heart from the progress which had
been achieved locally in
race relations through African ward elections, sporting
clubs, and a determined
attack upon housing problems. Rotarians turned out in
force, with their families,
for the concert.
This step was amply
rewarded. In his closing speech the African chairman asked
his largely African
audience:
What is this Rotary
movement, and how is it that a Rotarian from Great Britain
has sent us a cup? These
Rotarians believe that they must work for better race
relations all over the
world, and we Africans have seen with our own eyes how
this group of Europeans is
living up to this belief. We Africans must help
these men with their work.
We are progressing without violence. We do not need
violence.
Progressing without
violence. Could there be a more patriotic wish by any man
of any country?
The path of patriotism is
one path to peace; it offers opportunities for
tangible, personal service
by Rotarians in all countries. Incidents occur every
day which challenge the
true patriot to declare his interpretation of
nationalism as generous and
expansive way of life. For him, national holidays
are not occasions of
vainglorious boasting but reminders of his responsibility
to help build respect for
all peoples. He will use all the vehicles of
acquaintance available to
Rotarians in creating friendships with people of all
nations and races, for
therein lies the hope and glory of his own beloved land.
(to be continued - Chapter
2, The Path of
Conciliation)
World Understanding &
Peace Navigation Return to Preface
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