January: VOCATIONAL SERVICE Month
It all began one hundred twelve years ago in January in the windy city of Chicago. At that time the Chicago Rotary Club’s constitution had two objects. The first was the “promotion of the business interests of its members” and the second was the “concept of friendship.”
In 1910 at Rotary’s first Convention in Chicago, a quote of “As man comes into the light of wisdom, he comes to see that conduct toward others pays, that business is the science of human service and that he profits most who serves his fellows best,” became one of Rotary’s first mottos. Then two years later in 1911, at the conference in Oregon a second motto we all are familiar with -- “Service Above Self” was introduced. The idea of business as an object of Rotary was established in 1912 by the International Association of Rotary Clubs when it adopted a statement containing the 5 objects of Rotary. Both "mottos" were officially adopted in 1950.
No matter how much we would like to think that Paul Harris and his friends created Rotary for noble ideas of humanitarian service, goodwill, and world understanding – it was not the initial premise.
Paul Harris had the idea that friendship and business might mix and result in more business. In that era, most large cities like Chicago were in grips of growing business and industry, with fierce competition. Such slogans as “Cutthroat Competition”, “Let the Buyer Beware”, “Dog Eat Dog” and “The Public be Damned” were popular in the lives of giants in industry. Competitors were the enemy -- just making money was the goal. It was in this atmosphere that Paul Harris began to wonder if one person from each business or profession could actual work together in a non-competitive atmosphere. This is how classification came into existence. If they were not rivals or competitors, they could work together to help each other improve their business and income. Through the idea of friendship and business combined-the idea of Rotary evolved.
T.A, Warren a British Rotarian who became RI President in 1945-46 made this statement in an earlier book on history of Great Britain: “The only unique feature of Rotary is vocational service; everything else that we do is repeated by some other organizations.”
In 1943, the Four Way Test as we know it was adopted to guide in sales, promotion, advertising and all relationships with dealers, customers and employees. Vocational Services emerged to guidance opportunities to assist young people in selecting their future business and professional career. The Group Study Exchange program now known as Vocational Training Teams fall in this area of service.
Our 21st century has come full circle in the question of business ethics. Large corporate executives are under indictment for unethical and illegal practice. But let us, as Rotarians, recall the Code of Business ethics and continue to tell the world the important message of business honesty, ethics, truth, and fairness.