JOHN F. GERM

PRESIDENT 2016-17

DECEMBER 2016

I joined Rotary as an engineer. There are
almost as many classifications in the profes-
sion of engineering as there are in Rotary,
but I happen to be a mechanical engineer.
A mechanical engineer calculates the heating
and cooling loads for a new building, makes
sure the right lights are in the right places,
and plans the plumbing so your hot water
pipe doesn’t end in a drinking fountain.

Mechanical engineers don’t stand out in a
crowd, and they don’t call attention to them-
selves with what they do. You probably haven’t
thought much about the engineers who designed
the buildings you use, the car you drive, or the traf-
fic patterns you follow. But every time you get in
an elevator, turn the key in your ignition, or cross
the street when the light says go, you are entrust-
ing your life to an engineer somewhere whom you’ve
never met. You trust that your elevator will open at
the floor you want it to. You trust that your car will
start and stop as it should. You trust that the traffic
light is going to turn red before the walk light goes
on. Every day, you put your life in the hands of
people whose names you do not know and whom
you might never meet. You might not think about
them at all – but they touch your lives every day.

I could draw the same parallel to any number of
other vocations – ordinary occupations with the
same kind of life-changing impact. In so many
ways – some of which we see and some we don’t
– our vocations allow us to help other people live
better, safer, and healthier lives.

Just like the work we do in Rotary.

Through our vocations and in our clubs, in our com-
munities, and across continents, we are touching
the lives of people we don’t know and might never
meet. And in every part of the world, every single
day, whether they know it or not, people are living
better, safer, and healthier lives because of the
work of Rotary.

The people we help might not have met a single
Rotarian. They might not even know that Rotary
exists. But they are drinking clean water from a
bore well that Rotary dug. They’re learning to read
with books that Rotary gave them. They’re living
lives that are better, happier, and healthier –
because of Rotary Serving Humanity.