Someonene asked me, “What is your vision as the President of the Rotaract Club?”, right in front of so many Rotaracters and guests.

I nailed that question. My years as an Interactor really helped me, because I totally did not see that coming. I said, “I want to see a change in the mindset of students in ATC……bla…bla….bla….better person…..help local community……be better leader.” Forgive me,  I spoke for so long about my vision that I don’t really remember much about it now. (after 5 record hours of siesta).

But here I am, thinking hard, “What really is my vision?”. Is it the same with the Five Goals of Rotaract?

1. To develop professional and leadership skills.

2. To emphasize respect for the rights of others, and to promote ethical standards and the dignity of all useful occupations;

3. To provide opportunities for young people to address the needs and concerns of the community and our world;

4. To provide opportunities for working cooperation with sponsoring Rotaract Clubs;

5. To motivate young people for eventual membership in Rotary

Surely, it must be something more than that, isn’t it? Every Rotaract club must have a different vision, because every Rotaract club is unique on its own. What is our club’s vision, then? Is it all that important? Should we, the pioneers of the club formulate the club’s vision?

This brings me to another question. What is the club’s mission? Is mission the same as vision? For me, I do not equate mission with vision. Vision is an idealistic thought. Mission is a realistic thought.

While I admit that I am an idealist above all, in the circumstances our club is in now, formulating our mission, is far more important than vision.

Imagine the club as a new born baby, and we, the pioneers as the baby’s parents. As parents, what mission do you have for yourself, and what vision do you have for your child? Surely, a parent’s mission for their infant must be for he/she to be able to walk, talk, be a responsible, good person and eventually, care for himself/herself, as he/she grew up. That is the realistic view.

Meanwhile, the parents’ may have a multitude of visions for their children such as for their children to be a successful lawyer, a rich businessman, or even a Nobel laureate.

If the parents’ vision is not fulfilled, will the parents be considered as having failed? I depends, because if the child achieve a vision of their own, like being a philantrophic rockstar, the parents have not failed. But if the child ends up on the wrong side of the track, they have failed, and the failure stems directly from their failed mission.   

As such, I feel that our mission is paramount to us now. We are in a limbo now, because we do not have any sponsoring Rotary Club yet, and our status as a Rotaract Club is still “provisional”. That is our mission, to gain our charter, while getting a sponsor depends much on other people, because it is beyond our powers. But as of now, we shall work hard to fulfill the criteria to get a charter. Our vision? I believe it shall come after we have achieved our mission. Until then, I shall keep my vision as the club’s president close to my chest.

~on a side note: It’s 16th September: Happy 44th Birthday to Malaysia! And Happy 44th Merdeka to Sabah and Sarawak~