Living the Test, Making a Difference

The mere mention of the word ROTARY invokes varied opinions and impressions.   Some think of it as a gathering  of people committed to a cause—mostly of bettering the lives of people, and some have the impression that it is an organization of wealthy and powerful people.  As a non-Rotarian years ago, I had the latter impression.  Now, being part of the Rotary myself, I think of it as that—an organization of people not only with the resources and the power to make things happen, but with the common belief that they have what it takes to better the lives of others by sharing what they have.  They are a people committed to service and living out the principles of the Four-way Test.

Borne out of the need to improve a business situation, the Test, for more than half a century, has been promoted and used in various aspects of life and has improved many lives all over the world, for it spans all beliefs, races and religions.

As a teacher years ago, I have always lived out the Test and taught it to my students unknowingly, me being a non-Rotarian yet that time.  I have often reminded them of the importance of having ethics and living the values of honesty, industry, excellence, discipline, friendship, and integrity.  I told them it is difficult to live these values, but applying them everyday will eventually make it easier and become a habit.  I told them that if they want a happy life for themselves and the people they know, they have to face the challenge of doing it, for what is the value of anything if it is not done in truth and if it will not be fair and beneficial to everybody?  In that matter, what is success if not shared with others?  Will something matter if it does not build goodwill and better friendships, or if it does not better anyone’s life other than one’s own?  After all, as author John Donne said, “No man is an island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”.  Everyone is connected to each other and needs others.

But of course, I also had to live these values, because the best way to influence others is for them to see those values in me—to become an example, a role model.  “To see is to believe and imitate”, so goes the saying.

It has often been said that “the pen is mightier than the sword”.  How   many events in the history of the world have been influenced by writers?  For that matter, how many people have been inspired by literature and journalism and often acted according to what they have read?

I had once believed that one person can never make a difference in this vast world of ours. But that was many years ago. When I began writing, I never thought a writer can make a difference but when my stories, poems and essays started to appear in various books, newspapers, magazines and websites, and people began praising me and sending “fan mails” saying how much my writing has enriched their lives, I felt I was actually making a difference in the world in my own little way. By using the values in my writing, I am inspiring a lot of people to live these values.  Through my pen, I am unconsciously promoting the principles of the Four-Way Test, simply by doing what I love to do and sharing my GIFT to others.  For everything has a purpose, a grand meaning.  And maybe, I was given this gift for the purpose of sharing it and inspiring others. After all, as one BATMAN movie said, “It is not who we are underneath, but what we do, that defines us”.

It is always a pleasure to inspire others and my pen has always helped me do this, as well as my mission works to various institutions for the less fortunate for many years.  For it is also in making others happy that we make ourselves happy. Writing and doing mission works are two of the things I have done and will continue doing in living the Test, in bettering the lives of others, and making a difference in the world.

The truth is, everybody can promote and live the principles of the Test simply by being a good example to others—being honest and fair in all dealings with them and thinking always of how to better lives without hurting anybody.  Everybody has a choice—the choice to live for one’s own self, or to live for others as well.  And the time to begin is NOW. Begin at home, continue it in the academe and the workplace, and eventually, people will notice, and we would have made a difference.  For we are ROTARIANS, each of us a hero in our own little way.

(first appeared in Tugatog, 2011)