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I want to take you to November 9th, 2014. Nick and I found ourselves on the rooftop
of a hotel in Berlin, looking down on over 1 million people. They were there in jubilant

celebration at the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, also known as the end
of the Cold War.

Earlier that day, at an event hosted by Past President Holger [Knaack], I met a woman
by the name of Tatjana Jury. At the time, 25 years earlier, she was a fresh-faced young
radio reporter in the east of Berlin.

She shared, “We had no idea what was going on. My news director was having a nervous
breakdown, and I didn’t know what to do.”

So she took her tape recorder and she went out to explore, because, in her words, “When
you want to grab history, you have to grab history.”

She saw thousands of people going back and forth between the East and the West. She
saw people chipping away at the barrier. And she went back to her newsroom, and she
filed her story.

As I heard Tatjana share this, the power of connection was once again weaving its magic.
On that exact same day, I was also a rookie reporter. I was alone in a newsroom in
Windsor, Canada. The alarm bells went off, which meant that something significant
was happening somewhere in the world. I raced over to the old news wire machine
and I read that the Berlin Wall was coming down. The Cold War was ending.
And just like Tatjana, I didn’t know what to do. But I knew that this was history. And
“when you want to grab history, you have to grab history.” I went into the news booth
and I shared the incredible news.
Imagine, the two of us being more than 4,000 miles apart yet sharing in a world-altering
experience.

So, 25 years later, when Tatjana and I met, we shared some tears. I don’t know whether
the news wire story was hers, but I choose to believe that it was.

Only when we live in shared experience like this can we create world peace through
understanding. And that world can only manifest when we commit ourselves to equity,
human rights, and fairly allocating community resources. Or perhaps, as we all best
know it, being fair to all concerned.

As we strive to weave diversity, equity, and inclusion into Rotary, removing the barriers
is the key to inclusion. And inclusion is the key to membership.

While this may seem like a new call to action, it is not new thinking. I want you to listen to
the actual recording of our founder, Paul Harris, in 1933 at our 24th annual convention:

Rotary is thrown open to representatives of all walks of life, to representatives of
all countries and all forms of religion. ... Herein lies the genius and the glory of
Rotary. ... While Rotarians differ in many respects, in two respects they are in
perfect accord.

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