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ENGLISH (EN)

SERVICE AND PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVES
Shekhar Mehta RI President-elect
5 February 2021

Ever since I joined Rotary, Service Above Self has been the North Star of my life.

My first encounters with service were through the club projects. Eye camps, tree
plantations, food distribution drives — these were my first Rotary “dates.” But as time
passed, the projects became bigger and the impact of service became deeper. The more I

served, the more service became a way of life for me.
My dear change-maker governors, you are soon going to assume a higher level of

leadership. You will be leading districts with thousands of Rotarians. You will inspire them
to Serve to Change Lives. Service, my friends, is to care for others and share with others. It
is about thinking of others before you think of yourselves. Caring and sharing is the mission

of life itself, and beyond.
Speaking of the beyond, I’m reminded of a parable. A man died. At the pearly gates, he
met St. Peter. St. Peter said, “You were a good man, so you deserve to go to heaven, but

you also did things that could take you to hell.” The man asked, “What is the difference
between the two?”
St. Peter took him to a square room with a round table, at which sat eight emaciated, frail,

sad-looking people. They had a big bowl of soup on the table. They were hungrily looking
at the food but unable to eat, as each of them had very long wooden spoons with handles

tied to their elbows. So they could pick up the food but not bend their elbows to bring to
their mouths and so were dying of hunger.
St. Peter said, “This is hell.” He then took the man to the next room — same size, same

table, same soup, same wooden spoons with handles tied to the elbow. But here the people
were healthy, happy, and satiated, because here they cared and shared. They picked up the

soup, and as they could not bend the elbows and eat themselves, they shared the soup with
others by feeding them. Each of them fed the other, and all were happy.
The world, my friends, is divided. In one part, there is plenty, and in the other, there is

huge deficit, whether it is of water and sanitation facilities, whether there is deficit of food,
or lack of housing, or lack of medical care, the list is endless. We Rotarians act to

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