4-Way Explosion

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Savana Welch, First Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Mrs. VanArtsdalen, Grover Heights School

“It was the wrong decision and I think that anybody who knows any-
thing about the game knows that.  Umm….there’s no doubt in my
mind I would have made those saves and the fact of the matter is it’s
not 2004 anymore.  It’s not 2004 and it’s 2007 and I think you have to
live in the present and you can’t live by big names.  You can’t live in
the past.  It doesn’t matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold
medal game in the Olympics 3 years ago.  Now is what matters and
that’s what I think.”  These were U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo’s words
of anger after being benched in the 2007 Women’s World Cup semi-
final soccer game against Brazil.   The U.S. lost this semi-final game
4-0 and Hope was angry.  Benching Hope was a controversial move
by the coach as she had been the starting goalkeeper for the last few
years and had been playing great in the World Cup.  I sat watching at
home confused about how somebody could say something like that
about her teammate and coach.  I know this was bad news for Hope
and her teammates.
When I was told about the 4-Way Test, I kept thinking about this
incident.  Then I realized it was a total 4-way explosion!  I say this
because it was not the truth (well maybe part of it was), it would defi-
nitely not build better friendship and good will, it was not fair, and it
was not beneficial to all concerned.
Hope Solo’s comments about her teammate, Briana Scurry, and
coach were probably not true as how can she be sure she would
have stopped the goals.  But even if her statement were true and she
would have done better than her teammate, it was the wrong thing to
say at the wrong time.  It was a huge putdown and very unprofes-
sional for an athlete in her important position to say.  Being truthful is
very important because if you don’t tell the truth, it will come back to
hurt you in some way.  One way Hope could have handled the situa-
tion better would have been to tell her coach her feelings privately
rather than announce them to the media.  Her coach probably would
have understood her feelings and her teammate, Briana, and the rest
of the team would not have been hurt.
It is very important to know how to build good will and friendships.
These are extremely important skills as well for members of a team.
When team members are good friends and they care  for each other,
the team is stronger.  The Women’s National Team was strong in this
way until Hope spoke out in public.  She broke an  unwritten code that
you don’t do this to your teammates and coach.  Her comments hurt
the other goalkeeper, her teammates, the coach, the fans and even
Hope in the end.
Hope Solo’s public comments were definitely unfair to her whole
team.  It would take some serious healing to get through that and it
would be difficult for the team to play their best the next day.  Her
words brought the whole team down and caused divisions among her
teammates and coaches.  It was also unfair to her team, as they
could not focus on soccer because they were distracted by the con-
troversy.  Fairness is very valuable and Hope learned that lesson the
hard way.
Talking negatively like Hope did about people is definitely not bene-
ficial to everybody concerned.  It makes people feel bad and stirs up
all sorts of trouble.  Hope was only thinking about herself and her own
feelings so she was unable to see how she was hurting and not bene-
fiting others.
In the end Hope Solo publicly and privately apologized to Briana
Scurry, her teammates, coach and the public for her poor behavior.
She also received some punishments from her coach.  From her be-
havior since the incident, it seems she learned it is better to be truth-
ful with kindness, to cherish and protect friendships, to be careful
about speaking unfair comments, and to think more about benefiting
others and less about herself.  If Hope had applied the 4-way test to
her thoughts before she spoke out angrily, she would have saved her-
self and others a lot of problems and heart ache.

1 way or 4 ways

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
McKenna Arnold, Second Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Mrs. Hayes, Ocean View School

Hurricanes can destroy houses and lives.  After Hurricane Katrina,
many fundraisers were started to help all the people who suffered.
This is where our story starts.
As I said before, many fundraisers were being formed to help all of
the people whose houses had been destroyed.  Our story starts at a
fundraiser in Lakeside, Michigan.  Many people in Michigan had rela-
tives who suffered, so of course they wanted to help out.  On every
street there were stands asking people to buy lemonade or to just
plain give money.  One of the people who was doing a fundraiser was
Sally Kimble and her family.  Sally had an aunt who had suffered.
The Johnson family next door had an uncle too.  They switched off
every day to work the booth.  The Johnson family had a little girl
named Julie.  Their houses were on the end of the street that opened
into the housing district, so naturally they got the most money.  Their
average had been raised to 100 dollars per day.
One day Sally and Julie were walking home when they passed the
toy store.  Inside on the window display they saw a Barbie Dream
House, with all of her little friends (the one that Clara Barton had been
bragging about all day at school).  They looked closer.  They saw that
it cost 125 dollars.  That was more than both Sally’s and Julie’s
money combined.  They both looked at each other and knew that they
both wanted it, but they both knew that it was impossible without their
parents’ help.  Plus where would they keep it?  They both walked
home dragging their feet.  When they got home they both went out to
the fort Sally’s dad had built them.  In there they talked about the
dream house and how they could buy one.  Many ideas came, but
none sounded as if it could work.  Suddenly Julie came up with a
crazy idea.
They could steal from the fundraiser!  She kept on talking rapidly
about the plans and how they could do it when Sally finally inter-
rupted.  She knew it was wrong, but the idea of the dream house kept
tormenting her.  In the end she finally agreed but her parents couldn’t
be around them when they took the money.  They both counted their
money and they came up with $73.99.  They would have to take
$55.01 plus tax!
On the day they decided to steal the money, their parents had to go
grocery shopping and left them in charge of the booth.  No one was
coming toward them at the moment, so they took the  money and put
it in the fort.  Later, when their parents got home, Sally and Julie left
to go and buy the dream house.
While Sally and Julie were walking, Sally was thinking about what
they were about to do.  She asked herself 4 questions: Is it the
truth? No, they were stealing.  Is it fair to all concerned?  Well, no,
they were stealing from a charity that was going to help people who
really needed it, they were betraying their parents’ trust, and they
were taking other people’s money.  Will it build good will and better
friendships?  Again, no, they are taking money that could build
good will and better friendship, but no.  And will it be beneficial to all
concerned?  Also no, it is not beneficial to the people they were
raising the money for, or their parents.  It was only beneficial to
them.  Right as they were about to enter the toy shop, Sally
stopped them.  She mentioned to Julie what they were about to do
and they both thought about it.  Julie soon reached the same con-
clusion that Sally had.  They were doing something very wrong.
They both went home and secretly returned the money.
For the next 2 weeks Sally and Julie worked extra hard on the
household chores and got enough money to buy their own dream
house.  When they got home with their new toy, they realized that it
is better to work hard for something and enjoy their accomplish-
ment, than to take credit for someone else’s hard work.  Now Sally,
Julie and myself know that 4 questions can save you from making a
big mistake.

The Four-Way Test and Ethics

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Ben Zwarg, Third Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Mrs. Hayes, Ocean View School

Ethics is the act of making decisions because they are RIGHT and
not just because they are required or expected.  Sometimes this re-
quires making hard decisions.  This is where the Four-Way Test can
help you out in deciding the RIGHT thing to do.
Last weekend, I promised my grandma that I would go to lunch with
her and help her clean up her motor home.  After having baseball
practice for 2 hours that morning, I didn’t feel like doing anything the
rest of the day.  I called her on my cell phone and told her I didn’t feel
like meeting her.  She was very disappointed in me.  I told her I would
call her back.  I didn’t feel good about not keeping my word.  My belly
felt weird.  This is when I applied the Four-Way Test.
Step One of the Four-Way Test is, “Is it the truth?”  Yes, I was not
honoring my commitment I had made to my grandma.
Step Two is, “Is it fair to all concerned?”  No, it was not fair to her
because she had scheduled her day around meeting me.  She could
have been doing other things instead of waiting for me.  She was
counting on enjoying lunch together and getting some work done.  I
was letting her down.
Step Three is, “Will it build good will and better friendships?”  No,
because when you don’t keep your word, you don’t build people’s
confidence in you.  People will not “forgive and forget” if you haven’t
proven yourself to be trustworthy.
Step Four, “Will it be beneficial to all concerned?”  No, if you are
always not doing what you say you are going to do, people will stop
wanting to be around you and you will not have any friends.  People
do not like to feel like they are being taken advantage of.  They also
don’t like to waste their time.  No amount of reasons or excuses
change the fact that you either kept your word, or you didn’t.
So, after thinking all this over, I decided to call my grandma back
and tell her I had changed my mind.  At first, she acted like I had
blown my chance to meet her.  I had let her down and she was not
going to give me a second chance.  That’s when my mom stepped in
and told her that I was just learning how important it is to keep my
word and how my decisions affect others.  She changed her mind and
we had a great lunch and worked hard that afternoon.
Even though I didn’t feel like meeting her, I did it because it was the
RIGHT thing to do.  Sometimes, doing the RIGHT thing isn’t always
the most fun but it is worth it.  It made me feel better.  Also, my
grandma knew that  I respected her and that I am trustworthy
Applying the Four Way Test made me think about how my own
actions affect how other people think of me and how I feel about my-
self.  I will use this Rotary test to help me say and do the RIGHT thing
in the future.