Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of reflections on Rotary’s Vision Statement: Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

Paddy Rooney

By Paddy Rooney, governor of District 7390 (Pennsylvania, USA)

Just recently we celebrated the 50^th anniversary of the moon landing, the first time any human had stood on another world. But as remarkable as that event was what I remember most from that whole period was the earlier flights from the Kennedy Space Center and, above all, that remarkable photograph of Earth taken from the module which was the first time any of us had seen our planet as a whole from a distance. There it was, splendid in its suspension in the midst of the black space which surrounded it, a remarkable view of our world which took your breath away for its beauty and its wonder. Continue reading →

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of reflections on Rotary’s Vision Statement: Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

Paddy Rooney

By Paddy Rooney, governor of District 7390 (Pennsylvania, USA)

It is said that the greatest problem with adolescents is that they are selective listeners … although I personally believe that the problem is not limited to adolescents! We all hear what we want to hear and choose to ignore those things that we don’t want to hear. We pick and choose from the information offered to us, accepting that which pleases us to hear at the moment and ignoring that which we find uncomfortable. Continue reading →

Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.

— Rotary International Vision Statement

Paddy Rooney

By Paddy Rooney, governor of District 7390 (Pennsylvania, USA)

The word which defines much of our world today is division. We are divided in so many ways by race or creed, ethnicity or belief, by gender or age or sexuality. But the divisions have gone beyond mere realities and instead have become a source of dissention among us with the result that we have sliced and diced ourselves into smaller and smaller groups or tribes which only further exacerbate our  sense of alienation one from the other.

So what does it mean when our Rotary International Mission Statement begins with the word “Together.” Does together mean that we ignore the differences between us, pretend that they don’t exist, make believe that there never was any division among us? I don’t think so. Continue reading →