4-Way Test Contest Winner

4-Way Test Contest Winner

by: Haden Brewer

Haden Brewer

Last Wednesday, the Rotary Club of Tulsa held their annual 4-Way Test Speech Contest. The winner of the contest was our very own Haden Brewer. Feel free to watch the winning speech here or read the transcript below.

Transcript

I remember in elementary school when I first read the story of the Giving Tree, a story of a boy and a tree that grow together and develop a unique relationship through the years. The tree helps him grow into a man by giving of herself simple gifts such as her apples or branches all in an effort to provide comfort, support, protection, and even fun. She continues throughout his life to give more and more and more until she has nothing else to give. When you read that type of story, something inside you tells you that that it isn’t only about a boy and a tree; you know it speaks of something more like how to live not only with one another, but for one another.

That kind of truth is at the core of The Four Way Rotary Test. The test poses four questions to ask myself when making a decision:

  • Is It the Truth?
  • Is it fair to all concerned?
  • Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
  • Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

When I examine how these questions are relevant to my everyday life, I see that they all have the same underlying value: self denial. Never does the four way test encourage me to look for how something may benefit ME. Instead, the test drives me to look outside myself. Martin Luther King said that, “Life’s most urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” The Four Way Test and King both call me to forget myself and jump into life alongside everyone.

I attend a small private school of just over 150 students. We are not a wealthy school, and this fact produces much of what I love most about it. Because of our financial status, there are certain privileges we don’t have that other schools see as a common necessity; for example, a janitor. Yes, there are parents who have volunteered to clean the restroom and kitchen facilities, but the rest is accomplished by other means. Each student is assigned a task to work on 20 minutes after lunch that involves cleaning the building. By cleaning our classrooms ourselves, we build a sense of respect for the school. Now we put away our chairs, clean the tables, and sweep the floors after eating lunch without thinking twice about it.

This mentality permeates every aspect of my school. Last year I remember a time during the fall when many events were happening all around the same time. The school play was holding daily rehearsals after classes, elementary students were preparing for a festival, and the school’s formal would soon be making its way on to everyone’s schedules. With so much activity, the auditorium was looking like what mother would call, “A pig sty.” Without much planning, the student body came together and cleaned the auditorium. The Four Way Test was subconsciously implemented that day, when we simply asked ourselves what needed to be done so that all of us could accomplish our activities peacefully, and how could we do it?

But my friends and I don’t just think this way concerning the building. We actually try to model this in how we interact with each other. Earlier this week, one of our young sixth grade girls was diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Immediately when informed, the students came together as body. We gathered in the auditorium and prayed for her healing. Money was collected for flowers to send her; cards were signed to comfort her. In fact several students created a Facebook group to keep everybody informed about what is happening. Every high school student was looking for a way to help. These were moments when we refused to see ourselves as merely an individual, but as a whole, a structure, a body that works together to edify and support one another.

Mother Theresa, one who took serving others to heart, said “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”

Summed up, the Four Way Test is asking each of us to deny our self and see our peer, authority, or friend as our brother or sister. When I ask myself “Is what I’m doing the Truth? Is this fair to all concerned? Will it build good will and better friendships? Will it be beneficial?”

I am reminding myself that everyone’s well being is important and deserves attention.

This principle from the Four Way Test echoes a Jewish Rabbi in 33 A.D., who insisted his followers look at everyone as their neighbor. He encouraged helping everyone, simply because they were part of the human race.

This way of thinking has led revolutions— against racism, prejudice, poverty, and violence.

And it also leads me in my everyday life. Whether I am helping a difficult customer at work, emptying trash at school, or praying for a friend, I must sacrifice thinking about myself, and ask how I may help someone else.

This brings me back to the story of The Giving Tree. The Giving Tree gives the boy more and more and more, until she has no more to give. She is gives until she is but a stump in the ground, STILL in the end the she is happy. This children’s story teaches more than how to live with people, but how to live for people. It is in the little moments that we are offered truth that can change us.

The first question in the Four Way Rotary Test is if it is the Truth. That’s a powerful and important question. But the simplicity and power of the Four Way Test, is the relationship of the first question to the other three.

In order to tell if what I am SAYING or DOING is “the TRUTH,” In order to practice the for way test and apply to my everyday life, I must first answer the following three questions.

Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

For the TRUTH is that “It is better to give than to receive.”

About the 4-Way Speech Contest

The 4-Way Speech Contest is sponsored by the Rotary Organization. The purpose of the contest is to encourage youth, Rotarians and the community at large to more completely understand, encourage and foster the principles of Rotary and the object of “Service Above Self”.The national speech contest is for highschoolers who must speak seven minutes on any subject to which they can apply “The Four Way Test”. The speech must reflect clearly the practical application of all four points of the Four-Way Test.

The Four Way Test of Rotary is as follows:

  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?
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