Why I am a Rotarian
Because I did not have any faith in Rotary at all, I used to "tease" Rotarians. I never believed that Rotary was really a service club, but a mere luncheon club.
I used to "tease" Rotarians, especially the one who happened to be a medical doctor in the pharmaceuticals manufacturing plant where I worked as Managing Director.
I did not understand, then, why he should be so excited before noon every Thursday, just because he was about to attend his Rotary club luncheon meeting.
I did not understand why this Rotarian doctor so very often did not charge his patients when he knew that they came from the rural areas of Thailand and had hardly enough money for their transport down to Bangkok. They brought bananas and mangoes from their farms and fields to pay for the medical bills.
I did not have the answers even after his death! I was not really interested in Rotary anyway!
But, as fate would have it, I was "drawn" into Rotary by an elderly gentleman who approached my father in 1958 and invited my father to help him to form a new Rotary club, the second club in Thailand, which was to be born on 14 May 1958.
My father, like me, was not at all interested in Rotary; however, out of respect for his friend, he "forced" me to help that elderly gentleman, who I later on learned was a charter member of the Rotary Club of Bangkok, founded in 1930, and who was to become the charter president of the second club in the country, the Rotary Club of Dhonburi.
I can still remember very well his quotation from George Bernard Shaw: "Life is not a `brief´ candle. It is a splendid torch that I want to make burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
He had indeed handed on to me a splendid torch that was to change my life completely, from being a very selfish man, a man who minded only his own business, who had never had the idea that giving is grace, that not giving is disgrace, a man without thoughtfulness of and helpfulness to others, Being a Rotarian changed me into a responsible citizen, a Rotarian and a politician with a vision and a mission who plans every deed with the thought of giving as much joy to others as possible.
He who shared Rotary with me back in 1958 exists no longer. But his wisdom and his belief that Rotary was good and did good will always be a guiding torch, whatever I do. I, too, want to make this torch burn as brightly as possible before I hand it on to future generations.
http://www.bhichairattakul.org/whyrtn.htm
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