Peace Through Service
Sakuji Tanaka-RI President-elect
This is why, in 2012-13, our Rotary theme will be Peace Through Service.
Because however we define peace, whatever peace means to us, we can bring it closer through service.
Service Above Self reminds us that none of us can live for ourselves alone. A life lived in isolation is empty and without joy. But when we live for others — when we focus on our role within our family, our community, and all humanity — then we begin to realize our own place in the world.
I am part of the first generation to grow up in Japan after a terrible war. I think it is natural that we now place a great priority on peace. We saw where militarism brought our country. And we also saw the great economic growth that came when our nation made the choice to change our way of thinking, and to embrace peace.
This was the decision that allowed Japan to grow and thrive. It allowed new generations of children to grow up in safety, to become educated, to improve their lives. It fundamentally changed the Japanese attitude toward other countries and cultures.
It caused us to open our minds, to become more tolerant, to seek greater understanding.
And it allowed us to redirect our energies toward positive goals. In Japan, it is traditional to prioritize the needs of the society over the needs of the individual. This has always been part of our culture. In the weeks and months following the great earthquake and disaster of last March, this was what helped us to survive and rebuild.
This is a lesson that I think the whole world can learn from, in a positive way. When we see the needs of others as more important than our own needs — when we focus our energies on a shared goal that is for the good of all — this changes everything. It changes our perceptions. It changes how we relate to the world. It changes our priorities in a completely fundamental way.
And it changes how we understand the idea of peace.
For me, the idea of Peace Through Service does not involve any complicated philosophy. I am not a philosopher. I am a salesman. And over many years of business, I have learned that ultimately, the only way to a successful business is happy customers. When my customers are happy, my business grows. And this makes me happy in turn — not only because my business is doing well, but because I am glad to see that I have made others happy.
In business and in life, in order to get where you want, you have to know where you are going. In Rotary, we have made the decision to adopt the goals and priorities of the RI Strategic Plan as the roadmap for our organization.
To support the implementation of the strategic plan, RI will no longer have presidential emphases that change every year. This decision will help us to have greater continuity in our service, and achieve more significant goals over the long term.
And so, in 2012-13, I will ask you to focus the energies of your clubs on the three priorities of the RI Strategic Plan: to support and strengthen clubs, to focus and increase humanitarian service, and to enhance public image and awareness.
I will ask you also to help promote the three Rotary global peace forums that we will be holding in Hiroshima, Berlin, and Honolulu. You will be learning more about these important events during this assembly. I hope that many of you will become involved and make it a priority to attend.
In Rotary, our business is not profit. Our business is peace. Our reward is not money, but the happiness and satisfaction of seeing a better, more peaceful world — one that we have achieved through our own efforts.
In this Rotary year, I ask you to put Peace Through Service at the forefront of your Rotary work.
And I ask you to understand that peace, in all of the ways that we can understand it, is a real goal and a realistic goal for Rotary. Peace is not something that can only be achieved through treaties, by governments, or through heroic struggles. It is something that we can find and that we can achieve, every day and in many simple ways.
And so I ask you all to commit to a Rotary year of Peace Through Service — and a Rotary goal of a more peaceful world.
Thank you.