Rotary International President Rtn.Sakuji Tanaka

“Peace means different things to different people. No definition is right and no definition is wrong. However we use the word, this is what peace means for us. No matter how we use or understand the word peace, Rotary can help us to achieve it.

Rotary helps us to meet the basic needs of others: to provide health care, sanitation, food, and education, when and where they are most needed. It helps to meet the inner needs as well — for friendship, connection, and caring. And Rotary helps us to build peace in its most traditional sense, by reducing the causes of conflict. It builds bridges of friendship among people and nations. It helps us to understand one another.

To me, Service Above Self is more than just a motto. It is a way of life, one that will make any life richer and more meaningful. Putting Service Above Self allows us to focus our energies on what is truly important. We put the common good above our own. We value the needs of others over our own desires. We think less about ourselves and more about what is best for everyone. And in this way, we help to build the foundation for a more peaceful world.

This is why, in 2012-13, our Rotary theme will be Peace Through Service. Because, however we define peace, whatever peace means to us, we can bring it closer through service. Service Above Self reminds us that none of us can live for ourselves alone. A life lived in isolation is empty and without joy. But when we live for others — when we focus on our role as part of our family, our community, and all humanity, then we begin to realize our own place in the world.”