Resplendent Rotarians

It wasn't because the article was about water that I thought of the Master Water Plan Stakeholder Advisory Committee meetings when I read the history of the Klamath Water Wars.
Or maybe it was.

But something other than water connected the two.
Or, more accurately, separated the two events.

Before you "x" out of here and return to TV, read the compelling story on Water Wars link.  An excellent story in the publication Rotarian, December 2016 issue, "Common Ground", healing a troubled Oregon community at odds over water.

Apart from the distance that separated the Klamath Oregon area from the North Okanagan, the glaring separation for me was what a Rotarian provided Oregon...trust.

The Rotarian organization has something called The Four-Way Test, and it goes like this:

(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?

With this entrenched tenet, Rotarian Jim Root waded deeper into the human community that was his home, and he got committee members together, many of whom had become enemies during the water issues. 

Jim--at the first meeting, a breakfast meeting--set up a whiteboard that stated:

Develop trust.

Actions consider the entire community.

Balance flow of water in and out of the community.

Improve water quality considering "good ecology equals good economy."

The bureaucratic/political system (polar opposite to the Rotarian Way)

While Jim Root wasn't a miracle worker, he did get people to continue talking, and venting too.
He said they'd take a time out after venting and then start again.

All the while my mind returned to the four-way test and whether it should have been a prerequisite during the Stakeholder Advisory Committee meetings. 

Would the four-way test have changed things with the "citizen review" of the master water plan? 

While reading the story, I couldn't help but think that our area's water stakeholder advisory committee meetings, (many local government meetings for that matter...yes, having attended many!) are just sedentary exercises, never resembling the potential to become kinetic...living, functional things, leave-the-meeting-feeling-good type of events.
Even on good days.

It was all bureaucratic and political machinations and manipulation of the public!

So much for "Is it the TRUTH?" and "Develop Trust".

Greater Vernon Water customers--residents--didn't believe they were hearing the truth either in the meetings or in the sparse follow-up newspaper stories.  So no-one was surprised that trust didn't develop.

So, folks, next time there's an important meeting--or an election--invite a Rotarian.

Maybe even to run as Mayor(s).
That'd be very hopeful.


As an aside (and he'll probably be angry if he learns of this...)

Yes, I receive the truth from him.