Gear up for more service

Dear Rotaractors,

I used to watch many action-packed Hollywood movies during my student days. As I grew older, my movie-going habit slowly disappeared due to business and family commitments. I recall a scene from the Hollywood blockbuster Batman Begins that I saw 13 years ago. The hero, Batman and his mentor, Ra’s al Ghul fight against each other as part of training in mar-tial arts. Ra’s al Ghul beats and then advises the bruised Batman, “You have to bury your guilt with anger.”

Likewise, I feel we should work towards:
Burying anger with pleasantness
Burying our weaknesses with strength
Burying our laziness with hard work
Burying our loneliness with friendship
Burying our sadness with service
Burying our mistakes with good deeds
Burying our conflicts with peace

It is the right time to plan your club or district’s high-impact, sustainable project aligned with Rotary’s area of focus. I would like to compliment and highlight activities of some of the Rotaract clubs in educating women and youth on the construction and installation of solar street lights in local villages, where electricity is otherwise unavailable to community members. Rotaractors stayed in the villages for some days to teach entrepreneurial skills to the villagers. I think it will be appropriate for us to tune ourselves with technology and trends to take the community to the next phase in their lives.

We will be the true inspiration.

Let me wish you all a very happy and meaningful New Year.

C Basker
Director, Rotary International