FOUR WAY TEST ESSAY

If the landscape surrounding your house were surrounded by fire, growing closer to your home with each gust of the smoke-filled wind, would your neighbor run at it with a bucket of water?

I picture my siblings’ homes in the United States. I think about their neighbors, those whom I know, there are many more that I don’t, and I know the answer. They would stay at a safe distance, saddened and praying for rescue but glad it was not their own home, as they waited for the firemen to come—as they waited for someone whose job it was to take care of it.

Here, it is all of our jobs. After two and a half years, two hurricanes and, now, an out of control bush wildfire, I have seen the communities of Eleuthera take immediate action, over and over, to support one another. And, I think this is something special.

I do not mean to over-glorify the power of communities when there are real resources we need. I am sure every single person that I passed a bucket full of water to today would prefer a professional infrastructure ready with the resources to handle the bush fire that was threatening the line of homes along the Queen’s Highway in Waterford. Not one single person out there wanted his or her eleven year old son inhaling the endless clouds of pluming smoke. Not one of those community members wanted their friends and neighbors to be chasing the smoldering ground back with buckets of water wearing only sandals. We would all hope for the resources and means to fly in a professional wildland firefighting crew with the tools, knowledge, and skill to eliminate the threat.

And maybe one day there will be. We have already improved local emergency response. The South Eleuthera Emergency Partners (SEEP) have made great strides in rallying funding and local emergency response support. They envision safer communities supported by emergency operation centers. And like many of the other community-based organizations on-island, including the uniting forces of the One Eleuthera Foundation and Rotary Clubs, they hope for community growth, economic development, and a better future for Eleuthera. We all hope for this.

As a member of our small, young Rotaract Club, I pledge “Service Above Self.” And, I think that is what it means to run at a burning bushfire with a bucket of water handed to you by your neighbor. There is something special about that pledge on our small, rural, family island. Like I said earlier: with limited resources, funding, and infrastructure, it is all of our job to serve one another. We are the first responders. We are the after-school programs. We are arts workshops. We are the communities, but we are also the community service.

As a member of Rotaract, we also apply the Four-Way Test. We pledge, in all matters, to make decisions based on four valuable questions:

1. Is it the TRUTH?

2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?

3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

At our last Club meeting, in consideration of World Rotaract Week, Rotary President Jacquie Gibson asked us to consider the Four-Way test and what it means to our club.

In my twenties, every decision has felt four-way; with so many directions, opportunities, and possibilities in adulthood, it’s overwhelming to know which is the way forward. And in The Bahamas, for people our age, the four ways almost always lead away from the family islands. I recently asked our Club Founder, Kalin Griffin, what inspired her to return to Eleuthera. Like so many young Bahamians, she traveled abroad to pursue educational opportunities. And why did she return to Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera? She said her “ancestors called her back.” Kalin was called back to serve.

In 2011, her leadership brought together the Rotaract Club of Eleuthera, an alliance of young professionals who are united by the Four-Ways:

1. To us, the TRUTH is that we are small but dedicated.

2. We believe the future of Eleuthera needs us to work together to make it a good, FAIR, and opportune place to both grow up and set down roots.

3. Together we share GOODWILL and better FRIENDSHIPS, and we seek to expand that feeling of belonging and connection across all 110 miles of Eleuthera and beyond.

4. We know, as young professionals on Eleuthera, of the four ways, of the many ways, and choices we make each day, the way forward is to be united in service. We are neighbors with buckets of water in hand, stepping bravely forward, who know that it is all of our jobs to serve one another. We all BENEFIT through “service above self.”