Service Above Self: An invitation to be part of world peace
By Medicine Hat Rotary Club on August 27, 2024.
A running line in the film “Miss Congeniality” is, “What is the one thing our society needs?’ “That would be World Peace.” “World peace.” “World peace.” “Tougher sentences for parole violators … and world peace.” “That’s easy. World peace.” So, why is it not so easy? Don’t know. What we do know is that in 1914, only six years after Rotary was started, a resolution was proposed by the Rotary Club of Hamilton, Ontario, at the International Association of Rotary Clubs to “lend its influence to the maintenance of peace among the nations of the world.” Only seven years later, the memories of World War I still dramatically fresh in delegates’ minds, incorporated into Rotary’s constitution, was the goal “to aid in the advancement of international peace and goodwill through a fellowship of business and professional men of all nations united in the Rotary ideal of service.” That goal led to the creation of The Rotary Foundation and a guiding principle to bring peace to the world through education, relief from suffering, and by helping people better understand each other, especially in cross-cultural arenas. By the 1940 convention, the intent was clear. “Rotary has no interest in the religious or political affairs of your country, but if you do not treat your people with the rights any human being deserves, then Rotary cannot operate there.” Nearly 50 Rotarians served as delegates or consultants at the United Nations charter conference in 1945, and five subsequently served as president of the UN General Assembly. Ultimately, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 used the 1945 Rotary resolution as its framework. Every year now, Rotary awards up to 50 fully-funded fellowships for a 15 to 24- month master’s degree program and up to 80 for one-year certificate studies programs at premier universities for leaders with work experience in peace and development. Since 2002, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,700 fellows who now work in 140 countries. So, what about Medicine Hat Rotarians? What are they doing for world peace? Just look a little south and west. In 1931, members of the Rotary Club of Medicine Hat joined with others in Alberta and Montana, to create the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, the first of its kind in Canada and now a World Heritage Site and the world’s first transboundary dark sky park. Not only is its goal to promote peace and goodwill between the United States and Canada, it also focuses on the international nature of wilderness and cooperative protection of this resource. In 2016, Superintendent of Glacier National Park Jeff Mow, hosted a significant world conference on transboundary conservation and peace initiatives called “Hands Across Borders, involving countries in Africa, Iraq, Korea, the Caribbean. Representatives of The Rotary Club of Medicine Hat participated. This year, you and yours are invited to attend the Waterton-Glacier Peace Park Association’s Annual Assembly at the Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier, Montana, September 19-22, 2024. Program highlights include Indigenous storytellers, a banquet with Montana’s Troubadour, a renowned musician and poet, Jack Gladstone, who fuses soft rock/folk music with Blackfeet legends and history. With a style as memorable as Gordon Lightfoot’s, Gladstone captures traditional stories. Google his versions of “When the Land Belonged to God” and TEDxWhitefish. You’ll book your room and set aside the dates. Along with the entertainment, when you register for the Assembly, you’ll also be enthralled with updates from the Chief Superintendents of Glacier and Waterton National Parks. And, on the weekend’s Sunday – even if you come only for this portion of the weekend after exploring Glacier Park – you can join hands across the border to repeat the nearly hundred-year-old Pledge of Peace: “In the name of all we hold sacred, we will not take up arms against each other. We will work for peace, maintain liberty, strive for freedom and demand equal opportunities for all. May the long existing peace between our nations stimulate other peoples to follow this example.” This column is contributed by members of the Medicine Hat Rotary Club 16-15
