ONE GREAT AIM

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1931, Page 6

ONE GREAT AIM

INTERNATIONAL ROTARY VANCOUVER, Nov. 5Rotarians. of New Zealand will read with interest the views of the president. of International Rotary, Mr Sydney W. Pascall, of London, England. given hy him in Montreal to 500 Rotarians and their wives at a special dinner held in his honour at the Windsor Hotel in the Canadian financial capital. In the course of his vigorous message Mr Pascall sad: “Thoughts form ha bits and charactei —therefore let us internationalise our thoughts. That is the rev lution I plead for—revolution in th ught. Let vis think internationally, let us think peace, let us think good will and then the right actions will surely follow. The „ Statesmen who guide the destiny of our nation wi'l feel free to act because they will know they will have a public opinion behind them which will support them in actions of good will international amity and actions leading towards peace.” He emphasised that Rotary was not asked to take part in the controversial politics, but declared there vas.no controversy about the problem (f disarmament, for every nation in the world was pledged to it. Rotary realised that the real preparation for peace lay in the minds of m'ep and women and that underlying this preparation for material peace there must be moral and spiritual disarmament, the disarmament of mind, the internationalising of thought. “In Rotary we recognise,” lie sa'd, “that the colour of a man’s skin or the differ*ence of tongue., that he speaks does not render him an . enemy or cause us to think of him v ith hostility. We recognise that in every nation of the world there are vrrictes o! nersons and a'variety of opinions.”

Mr Pascall remarked that it was often said that the best internationalist was the man who was a good nationalist. That was perfectly true, provided .nationalism was no hing that bred hostility to others or wliicii narrowed down, into selfishness. Nationalism was prfhaps better termed patriotism. “Rotary stands for cooperation between nations for the solution of international troubles,” ’ e gaid in conclusion. “Rotary stands ffir service above self internat : onal'y as well as in our own nation. We believe that the problem is an international one. ad the solution is international too, and we believe in Rotary we can do a great deal, not to sol\e those problems—that is the duty of statesmen and organisations spec-ally adapted and conceived for the. purpose—Tint to create a.n atmosphere in which it is easier to solve those problems. We can create a state of mind in which the statesmen feel that they have got a great bod* of solid people of common sense behind them and that if they take risks for the sake of peace the people are going to hack them up in taking those risks.”