THE CHALLENGE OF TODAY

Chronicle (Levin), 2 December 1947, Page 4

THE CHALLENGE OF TODAY

CREATE FRIENDSHllP; RESTORE HIGH IDEALISM The need for oreatihg in the i WOrld the spirit of friendship ,exist- 1 iiig in Rotary and also the high r idealism which was the heart of : the movement was stressed by "Mr. ] W. Blair Tennent, of Palmerston ; North, past GOvernor of the 52nd ' (New Zealand) Distridt of Rotary ] International, speaking at the 1 Levin Rotary Club's weekly luhch- 1 eOn yesterday. The first thing which had impressed him on his entry into ; Rotary had b'een , the amazing ; friendship which ekisted in the movement, sai'd Mr. Tennent, One ■ went as a stranger to any club meeting or conference, and im- : mediately received a warm welcome ; and was made to feel that he was amon'g friends. At .an international convention one felt the bond of friendship with Chinese, Hindu, Moslem, Norwegian, Da'ne, Fihn or vCzechoslovakian. Eriehdship was the foiindation stone upon which Rotary rested. That spirit of friendship should not be retaiiied within the four walls of Rotary but should be taken out into the com-: munity and be given to the world, fbr it was upon frieiidly accord that the world depeiided for international goodwill and understand^ ing. "During the war we saw all our high idealism go awry," proceeded Mr. Tennent. "We had taught our children that to kill is criminal, that love is stronger than force. and that the noble spirit is one which yields the advantage to the other fellow and asks nothing foi himself. Under the urgent necessity of war all this was swept asi'de. We taught them to fight without regard to the rules of fairness and to kill before they were killed." If one talked to anyone from Europe today they spoke of the deplorable economic conditions there since the war, but they sa^ that much worse was the deterioration in the moral standards, particularly among the youth. The same thing had occurred in New Zealand. "Now the war is over we have to straighten these matters out as fast as we can," said Mr. Tennent. "A world peace cannot long endure on war standards and the position is so serious that our standards of idealism must be heralded againthroughout the world. Today we are challenged to achieve an even greater unlty than we achieved during the war and we must be prepared to make whatever sacrifices are necessary to restore to mankin'd freedom, justice, trutn, sanctity for the pledged word and respect for human rights. "What we need here more than ever before is to put the second object of Rotary to work. The world needs men who will lead the way with high ethical standards in businesses and professions.','