DISCURSOS - Rotary International

Foundation really meant something to me, and I promised myself then, just as many of you have,
that I would not only support our Foundation financially, but when I could, I would go and serve
the less fortunate in other parts of our world. This is my Rotary moment.
My friends, you are not here by accident. As you have lived Rotary, Rotary has lived in you. Each
of you has an experience, an adventure, a moment or moments in time that have framed your life
and fastened you to Rotary like barnacles to a ship. You can share these moments because they
are your own, and your friends, in and out of Rotary, will recognize the humanity in your moment
that proves there is a real you behind the story. People need more from you as a leader, and I am
convinced they will be motivated to action when they see what Rotary is doing through you and
to you.
Each time that I have been privileged to sit in this audience of governors-elect and spouses and
hear leaders at this podium recount their own Rotary moments, my mind has whispered, “Oh, I
wish that every one of my club members could be here at this moment to see what I am seeing,
to hear what I am hearing, and to feel what I am feeling.” At times I have struggled to hold back a
tear as a speaker’s heart has spoken directly to mine. And therein perhaps lies the simple secret
to sharing your own Rotary moment.
See the moment, feel the moment, then tell the story.
I urge you, amid the busyness of your lives, to take some time to quietly ponder how a Rotary
experience has changed your life, motivating you to action. Replay the images in your mind.
Reach deep within yourself and feel the excitement of the adventure, and then deliver your
moment with the passion you felt then and now.
Bring your moment to them through a story that is so vivid, it feels as if others were actually
there.
A few years back I met Governor-elect Marwan Fattal from District 9100 in Africa. He and I were
in Tanzania, and one evening while we were sharing the benefits of belonging to Rotary, he told
me his Rotary moment. He said his vocation was in the lumber industry and his business required
him to fly to different countries in Africa to purchase wood. He had his own airplane, and,
eager to upgrade to his commercial license, came here to San Diego to an aviation flight center
for training. There, he was smartly outfitted with a student flight uniform, and instruction began.
A short time later he was asked by the instructor to leave the course. Marwan, it seemed, asked
too many questions, needed clarification on some of the English terms, and the instructor felt he
was disrupting the class. He was informed that he was not ready for the license and that it would
be better for him to return another year, and then instructed to turn in his uniform and books to
the chief flight officer the next morning. Discouraged and despairing over what his colleagues
would think of him back in Sierra Leone for having failed the task, the next morning he made his
way slowly to the executive office, with uniform neatly folded in his arms. As he leaned over the
desk to hand back the uniform, the flight officer noticed the Rotary emblem pinned proudly on
Marwan’s shirt collar.
“Oh, I see you are a Rotarian,” he remarked. “Yes,” replied Marwan. Then the flight officer pointed
to his own Rotary pin on his lapel. “I am too!” He then asked Marwan why it was so important
that he receive his upgraded license, and following his heartfelt reply, the flight officer picked up
the phone and summoned another one of his instructors into the room. When the new instructor
arrived, the flight officer told him that, above all else, this man from Africa needed his commercial
pilot’s license, that he was assigning him as Marwan’s personal instructor for the next few
weeks, and that he was to work diligently with him, one on one, so that Marwan would be able
to successfully complete his license with the rest of the group. And they went away and they did
just that. Marwan, an experienced pilot, has served more than a decade as the only inspector for
western Africa representing the Federal Aviation Administration from the United States. And all
this because of a Rotary pin. That was his Rotary moment.
International Assembly Speeches 2013 43