If you are not a Rotarian, although you might see this on posters and billboards at most busy street corners in your town or city, the Four-Way Test may not be familiar. But for Rotarians everywhere who repeat these questions at the start of every club meeting, this is a test that we are expected to be guided by, a moral and ethical code for personal and business relationships. In essence, a way of life.

What does the Four-Way Test consist of? Twenty-four words make up four questions that a Rotarian, Herbert Taylor, coined in 1932 when he took over a cookware distributor and other household products on the verge of bankruptcy.

The setting then in America was the Great Depression triggered by the world’s first stock market crash in 1929, when high unemployment, poverty, deflation, bankruptcy, and bank failures were the norm.

Taylor, a devout Christian, strapped for cash and faced with stiff competition, and very much desperately in need of a unique approach that would differentiate his company from its competitors, after praying and pondering long and hard on what to do to turn around the fortunes of the company, formulated four simple, easy to remember, everyday universal truths, wittingly structured as questions to enhance ready acceptance instead of as directives, that could be used as guideposts for all the employees in their dealings with customers and among themselves.

Gradually, a new culture embodied in the four questions took hold among the employees, and the company, over time, gained the trust, respect, goodwill, and admiration not only of its customers but even its competitors.

Needless to say, the company’s debts were fully paid, and the profits rolled in.

The success experienced by Taylor prompted him to apply this 4-way test when he assumed the presidency of his own club in Chicago in 1938. Eventually, it gained global acceptance in the Rotary world by 1952.

And what are these four questions?

First, Is it the truth? Second, Is it fair to all concerned? Third, Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Fourth, Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

In sum, these questions center on truthfulness, justice, friendliness, and helpfulness.

These simple guidelines underscore the mantra of Rotary, which is Service Above Self. Rotarians manifest and fulfill these questions through Rotary’s Avenues of Service.

And what are the Avenues of Service?

Club Service — A club must have enough members to ensure that it remains vibrant and to follow through on its service projects. Some clubs have as few as 30-40 members, and some have as many as 200. But regardless of size, it is the spirit of service by the few or by the many that really makes the difference.

Vocational Service — In the pursuit of service above self, Rotarians are expected to draw on their respective expertise to help alleviate the problems of the community and society at large.

For instance, our club, the Rotary Club of Makati, is blessed with significant human and material resources that enable us to fulfill our mission of service year in and year out.

We have club members who currently serve in key positions in government and the private sector, both profit and non-profit, who surely and naturally display the Rotary brand of Service Above Self as they do their jobs serving society, the underprivileged, and the community in need.

Community Service — To name a few community service-driven projects that our club undertakes, we have projects to feed nutritional food to malnourished children, distribute school books for free to public school students, enable safe and clean water to communities in desperate need of potable water; provide shelter for the homeless.

We conduct literacy skills training; medical missions; cancer screenings; provide financial support to the hearing impaired; promote livelihood; coral reef regeneration; and nationwide disaster relief missions.

International Service — No man is an island, and certainly, Rotary clubs likewise reach out to international partners for support in service projects, such as what our club did a few weeks ago when we visited RC Taoyuan in Taiwan to re-energize a long-standing relationship.

It was my first international activity as a Rotarian, and the visit was most memorable. Our friends from Taoyuan, who cleverly have nicknames corresponding to their classification led by their president Fred (Auto) and our delegation’s constant support, KC (Paper), together with their respective spouses, were the most gracious hosts one could ever imagine.

Youth Service — Our club’s landmark project this year is PHYLA, the inaugural Paing Hechanova Youth Leadership Awards, in cooperation with the Concepcion family, named after a distinguished RC Makati member, Rafael Hechanova, who served as president, district governor, and RC international director.

Paing, an outstanding basketball player and an inductee into the Philippine National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000, represented the Philippines in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. The award recognizes outstanding youth who have demonstrated extraordinary leadership skills in Rotary’s Seven Areas of Focus and Sports Development Advocacy.

Until next week… OBF!

For comments, email bing_matoto@yahoo.com.