Rotary District 5240

2006-2007 Four-Way Essay Contest Winners

District Vocational Service Chair Judy Henbury (Nipomo) has announced this year’s District Four-Way Test Essay Contest Winners and their sponsoring clubs:

High School Winners:
1st Place: James Rajaratnam (China Lake)
2nd Place: Sara Pressey (Newbury Park)
3rd Place: Jake Singer (Westlake Village)

Middle School Winners:
1st Place: Kasey Lovett (Simi Sunset)
2nd Place: Ryan Fitzgerald (Nipomo)
3rd Place: Christopher Breton (Santa Barbara Sunrise)

Elementary School Winners:
1st Place: Morgan Wertz (Pismo Beach/Five Cities)
2nd Place: Katrina Von Burg (Ojai)
3rd Place: Jessica Mayhew (Fillmore)

4-Way Test

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Stevie Sullivan, Second Place
Grade 11, High School Division
Mrs. Hoover, AGHS

Nine months ago I was diagnosed with anorexia and a moderate form of depression. ME, the girl who had it all—the grades, the friends, basically the life in general. How did I get going sideways? And why would I throw away a life that seemed so perfect? Those were the kinds of questions people were asking me—my parents, the therapists, my best friends and even my ex-boyfriend. At the time, even I didn’t know what I was doing or why I was doing it. I realize now that my “perfect” life had been turned upside down my sophomore year, and my eating disorder was a cry for help. Life threw me a curve ball, and at the time that was my only way to cope. Unfortunately, I hurt a lot of people along the way trying to save myself.
Most people who have eating disorders have something called an “anorexic self.” My new self was all the things that I chose not to be when I was healthy. She was critical, she was sarcastic, she was manipulative, and insensitive; but in a lot of ways she was my best friend and the only one who truly knew what I was going through. When she was running the show she’d say things like “Don’ eat the cheese, it’ll make you fat!” and “You don’t need that cookie girl, show some self control!” I was foolish enough to believe that she was looking out for me and my body. I thought she was there to help me get the attention I wanted from all the people in my life including whatever boy I may have been crushing on at the time. I thought that guys wanted “model skinny” girls for girlfriends but I couldn’t have been more wrong. At a conference last July, a specialist told me that when I hear my “critical-self voice” I need to stop and ask myself if what she’s saying is true. If my initial response is yes, “Can I be absolutely certain that it’s true?” Most of the time that answer is no…So I asked myself, would my friends still like me if I wasn’t thin? Well yeah; they liked me before, right? And after I eat a bowl of ice-cream am I fat? No, I look exactly the same as I did 5 bowls of ice-cream ago. For the first time I understood how my critical self thinks. When I started to focus on the truth and pay less attention to her, she stopped antagonizing me. Now I’m back in the driver’s seat, and my fate health wise is in my hands.
Was it fair to all concerned? No! I hurt my family just as much, or more, than I hurt myself. My Dad told me recently that it made him want to cry just looking at me last summer. I was wasting away before his eyes, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Both my parents read book after book about eating disorders, they found me the best help in the area, my mom cooked for me three times a day everyday, and they pulled me out of school to make my recovery as easy on me as possible. I’m not proud of the way I acted, and I wish I could find a way to show them how sorry I am. At the time I felt like they were trying to ruin my life. Now, I look back and appreciate everything they’ve done for me. If there were such at thing as a “Parent of the Year Award,” they’d have it in the bag!
Having an eating disorder made things a lot harder with friends. For the first time in my life I felt out of place and uncomfortable in social situations. I didn’t know what to say or how to act because I didn’t feel like myself anymore. When I was sick, I wasn’t building good will or better friendships. If anything, my eating disorder destroyed some of the relationships I already had with the people I cared about most. I stayed home on the weekends, and I sat in a classroom at lunch. I felt misunderstood and alone. I’ve never been a competitive person, but I found myself comparing my body to the bodies of every other girl. I was determined to be the fittest, the toughest, and the best looking. Everything was about winning, but eventually I realized that I was so busy trying to be the best that I was missing out on all the fun. My true friends stuck it out with me, and those girls are very dear to my heart. I will cherish those friendships for the rest of my life, and so it turns out that I did build better friendships through it all.
Fortunately, I got a lot out of a really painful experience. Now that I’m healthy again, my mom and dad are two of my best friends, I spend my time doing the things that make me happy, and I enjoy food more than I ever have before. From the roughest times of my life came gifts greater than I ever could’ve dreamed of. I received the gift of wisdom, the gift of maturity, the gift of much needed love, the gift of gratitude and the greatest gift of all, a deeper understanding of myself and my purpose as a human being. So, was it beneficial to all concerned? In the long run yes, I think we all learned a lot from my journey; but I wouldn’t recommend taking the road I chose to inner peace.
One of the most important things I’ve learned, is that it’s my responsibility to show the rest of the world how I deserve to be treated. If I can’t be kind to myself, I can’t expect anyone else to be kind to me. A body is just an earth suit, and its sole purpose is to carry me from one experience to the next. My body does not define me, and the people who matter most will love me for who I am inside. I know I may have applied the 4-Way Test in an unconventional way, but it just goes to show that it really can be applied to any situation.

(Untitled)

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Jeff Mooney, Third Place
Grade 11, High School Division
Mrs. Hoover, AGHS

A wise man once said, “stick to your guns”. Although this phrase can mean many different things, I believe that it has a universal meaning, that is, don’t ever let any situation make you forget your morals. The 4-Way Test is so similar to the quote, that I couldn’t believe I was going to have the chance to write about something I have such a passion for.

If only the government had known about the 4-Way Test during WWII. In school, we are learning about the camps that the Japanese Americans were sent to. The government assumed that many of the Japanese Americans were spies. They were taken from their homes, and only allowed one bag for their possessions. Many people became sick in the camps because of the horrifically terrible living conditions.

The 4-Way Test would not have been a good prevention plan, but a perfect one. Is it the truth? No, none of the Japanese Americans that were thought to be spies were ever proven to be. Is it fair to all concerned? Once again, the answer is no. It is completely immoral and unjust to pull someone from their home and send them to a camp. In many cases, the Japanese Americans lost all of their possessions, including their homes, even when they were let out of the camps. The third question of the 4-Way Test, “will it build good will and better friendships?” The decision to put the alleged spies in camps did not cause good will or create better friendships. The only thing it did, in the form of relationships, was stir up racist feelings from both Americans and Japanese Americans. The last question, “will it be beneficial to all concerned?” No, absolutely nothing was solved by putting innocent people in prison camps.

It is such a sad thing, because if the government had only applied the 4-Way Test, the whole situation could have been avoided. I know that I will be more careful with my decision making in the future and be sure to always keep the 4-Way Test in mind.

The Rotary 4-Way Test

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Morgan Wertz, First Place
Grade 3, Primary Division
Julie Elvin/Sharon Scudder, Harloe

The Rotary 4-Way Test reminds me of the laws I follow in my Girl Scout Brownie Troop, which were written to remind us how we should act as individuals, and how others should be treated. When I first read the Rotary’s 4 principles, they made me think, once again, of how I should act and treat others.
The Rotary 4-Way Test can be used in everything we say and do. Whether my troop is presenting at our multi-cultural event, or selling Girl Scout cookies, we must be TRUTHFUL and honest to everyone. Each time my troop meets, we plan new activities to help others, which is very rewarding. Before Christmas, we walked around neighborhoods, collecting canned food donations for the needy. This activity helped us build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS in our community, and was BENEFICIAL to all concerned.
In my school we have rules, in my community we have laws, and in my country we have regulations. It seems as if rules and laws help guide people in society—and the Rotary’s 4 principles guide us to become better citizens in this society. Without them, the world would be a crazy place! People would NOT be TRUTHFUL, they would NOT be FAIR to all concerned, they would NOT be able to build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS, and their actions would NOT be BENEFICIAL to all concerned. I think the Rotary 4-Way Test can be used in our schools, communities, and country.
I often wonder what the world would be like without any wars or hunger. What if there were no drugs or homeless people living on the streets? Then life would be BENEFICIAL to all concerned. If everyone had jobs and were paid for their work, it would be FAIR to all concerned. If there was no hate in this world, we could build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS. I once read a Japanese Proverb that says: “Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. I think the 4-Way Test could be our ‘vision’ to help our ‘actions’ in making this world a better place.
I can truly see how the Rotary’s 4-Ways can be used in my Brownie Troop, my school, my community, my country, and the world.
As a Girl Scout, I will continue to follow the Girl Scout law, which states:
“I will do my best to be HONEST and FAIR,
FRIENDLY and HELPFUL,
CONSIDERATE and CARING,
COURAGEOUS and STRONG, and
RESPONSIBLE for what I say and do…”
I think the Rotary’s 4 principles are like the Girl Scout Law. As I grow older, I will do my best to be a good citizen. I will remember to practice the Rotary’s 4-Way Test in all I think, say or do:
“Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOOD WILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
I believe the Rotary 4-Way Test can give us all the ‘vision’ we are looking for.

My Mistakes

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Linnea Skinner, Second Place
Grade 1, Primary Division
Jann Zeilenga, Branch

I always practice the Four Way Test at school with my friends and other kids. I always tell the truth and I’m always fair with others. I am kind to others so they’ll be kind to me. If someone’s calling me names or being mean, I just ignore them and walk away. There’s a song about a golden rule and the golden rule is to treat others as you would have them treat you. Sometimes, it’s just so easy to be kind to others, but when I get home it’s not as easy to do with my family.
One day when me and my brother were making a fort we used a pair of my dad’s pliers and when we were cleaning up our tools we put my dad’s pliers away somewhere but we don’t know where. My brother and I had to look all over our property. We couldn’t find them anywhere. So, now my brother and I have to buy him a new pair of pliers. One day when my dad was working, he needed his pliers to tie rebar and he couldn’t find his pliers anywhere. It took my dad so much longer to do his job. It wasn’t fair to my dad at all.
When I got home from school, my brother wouldn’t help me look for the pliers, and instead of helping me look for them, he sat down and sharpened a stick. My brother threw the stick that he was sharpening and tried to spear me. He also threw rocks at me. I was holding a skinny stick and I whipped him with it on his legs. I couldn’t hold my temper. I really want to be friends with my brother but it’s just so hard to do it if we always fight.
This Tuesday morning I made another mistake and blew my nose on my mom’s favorite fleece jacket. There was no box of tissue in the kitchen and I couldn’t find any toilet paper—but I didn’t look very well. I know it wasn’t fair to my mom and I shouldn’t of done it.
I will try to not make mistakes anymore. I’ll try to look harder for tissue and take care of my mom and dad’s things. I will try to ignore my brother when he’s teasing me or throwing stuff at me. It’s really important to respect other people. I’ll try to be a good friend to my brother and I’ll make sure that my brother and I put things away where they go.

My Long Lost Friend

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Tavis Cote, Third Place
Grade 2, Primary Division
Kathy Metcalf, Branch

Hi, this is me—Tavis. I am an eight year old boy in second grade who was asked to do this 4-Way Test Essay for his homework. I have tried to come up with a topic for several days and I finally have one.
This story is about two friends who have known each other for a long time. We started out as buddies from the time we were three years old. Since we lived close we played a lot together. But when we started kindergarten, my friend became good friends with another girl. They started hanging out together. For a while the three of us would play after school. We played during vacations as well. Then, I met new friends too and we started hanging out.
We all got along okay until something happened. It was so long ago, I am not sure exactly what it was that happened. I just know that when the two girls were together, they were unkind to me. I found myself sometimes being unkind to them. It reached a point when I thought my former friend was my worst enemy. We no longer played together. We called each other names and almost never spoke . This went on and on and on. Eventually, we just ignored each other even though we lived near each other and went to the same school.
It seems that with time we have both gotten past our original fight. Like I said, I can’t even remember what happened. We have started being kinder to each other. We sometimes can play now. Just the other day, I played with my friend and the other girl. They even left me a nice note. It makes me feel better that we have started to get along again. I hope we can remain friends.
I plan to keep playing onward and eventually I hope we will reach the friendship that we had when we first met. I will use kind words. I will play with her more often. I will try to find things we can do together.

Blame it on Bro

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Mariah Cossey, First Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Staci Andrews, Grover Heights

About 3 years ago, my brother and I were given the chance to prove our sense of responsibility. Alex, my ten-year-old brother, was swamped with homework so he was allowed to stay home from a two-hour meeting that my parents had to go to. I begged to be allowed to stay home too, but they were reluctant at first.
“Please, Mom!” I pleaded with my wide 8-year-old eyes. “I don’t know if you’re ready yet, Maia. You have to prove your maturity first,” my mom droned, giving me the look that showed pity, love, and annoyance. Finally, after my rather sophisticated way of reasoning, she let me stay with the warning that I would lose their trust if I misbehaved.
That day I found out that staying home alone wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be and after an hour I was practically dying of boredom. Skipping into my brother’s room, I saw that he had language arts, math, and social studies homework to finish. But of course I did what every normal kid would do.
“Whatcha doin?” I asked in a sickly sweet and innocent voice. “Homework,” he grunted. “Get out!” “What’s this?” I asked cutely, holding up his math work. His reaction was to ignore me, but that was the worst thing he could have done. “I’ll rip it! I sang malevolently. “Leave! He yelled at me grabbing back his papers.
I didn’t move so…he shoved me to the ground. All the energy and anger from being bored, ignored and shoved built up inside me until there was no room for anything else. Eyes wild, I flew at my brother with claws out and reason gone. I didn’t stop to think about the outcomes my actions might have. I just did it. I bit and scratched my brother until he kicked me back, but that just infuriated me more. Like a wild beast I tore up his math papers, ran from the kill to my room and locked the door.
When my parents came home, they confronted me with hostile expressions after talking with Alex. I stared at my mom and, with a dry mouth, did what they told me never to do. I lied.
I made up a story of how I was minding my own business when I thought I might ask my brother to play with me. I told them I accidentally ripped his paper as I was leaving. Then he started attacking me. I finished with a tale of remorse for hurting him in my self-defense. My brother had been known to have a temper lately and a history of lying about video games so they believed me. Mostly…. Our only punishment was a time out and Alex got one too.
That night, guilt welled up inside me. The harder I tried to ignore it the fiercer it fought. It swelled and writhed and ate away at me until I had to get up and go to the sink. I drank in desperation to try and drown the evil, guilt-ridden monster, but it was persistent. At last I gave in and ran to my parents’ room. They weren’t all too enthusiastic about me waking them from their beneficial sleep so early in the morning. But when I told them it was to fix my fragile friendship with Alex they got nice. I told them everything, the complete truth this time. The punishment for lying, hurting Alex and ripping his homework was great but at least I could sleep at night.
Looking back, I realize how much better off I would have been if I had thought about the 4-Way Test before I acted. The 4-Way Test is a perfect thing to go by in life. However, to put it in clear, simple terms, I will probably make a big mistake again. Nobody is perfect. No matter how good you are, you aren’t going to think about the test for everything in your life, Eventually, everyone is going to mess up badly at some point. That’s the truth and that’s what I know.

Tears of Pain

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Maria Chavez, Second Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Staci Andrews, Grover Heights

If I would have had another chance, just one chance to undo what I had done, I would have taken it. If I would have had a wish I would have wished for a chance, and all because I wanted to save a friendship. It was an ugly, cold, probably going-to-rain type of day. Despite the weather the day had gone on fairly well and all my friends and I were sitting in our usual spot in the school cafeteria. We were talking and laughing doing what normal 5th graders do, until one of my best friends, Sally, showed us a picture of a mermaid she drew. It wasn’t exactly the best mermaid in the world but, hey, she’s only in 5th grade and mermaids aren’t the easiest things to draw. So like a best friend would do I exclaimed “Hey! That’s great.” Unfortunately, my other best friend Karla wasn’t so considerate. I don’t exactly remember what Karla said but it was enough to see the pain and hurt in Sally’s eyes. Sally, no longer excited about her drawing, gloomily walked to the far end of the table. It was very depressing, it was as if a gray cloud was pouring rain on top of her head. When Sally left I turned to Karla and said “Karla, that was a horrible thing to do! You should go and apologize!” Karla shrugged her shoulders. I knew that Karla wasn’t being fair so I told my friend Jake what had happened. Jake came up with a plan, it was a mean plan, but since we were both so angry about what she did we didn’t really care. Both Jake and I snatched the tangerines off our plate and slowly inched the tangerines closer to Karla and “Now!”, Jake yelled. We both squeezed the tangerines as hard as we could. Once the juice made contact with Karla we didn’t feel big, we didn’t feel better and we especially didn’t fix anything. Actually, we probably made things worse. The path that the juice decided to take was straight into her eyes. Her eye almost instantly turned red and swollen and started to overflow with tears of pain. Our jaws practically dropped to the floor in astonishment. The glare that Karla gave us went straight past my eyes and burned the back of my skull. For the rest of the day Karla gave us the cold shoulder. It felt as though frost was sliding down my spine and my insides were getting ripped apart every time I would try to apologize. By the end of the day I decided to write her an apology letter, it was my only hope. I didn’t know if she forgave me or not until the next day. Karla did end up forgiving me and she even said sorry to Sally for the comment that she made about her drawing. This incident happened about a year ago and Karla, Sally and I are better friends than we were before. All of this story is completely true with the exception of the names, which shall not be given out under any circumstances.

Doing What’s Right

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
John Mattimoe, Third Place
Grade 6, Intermediate Division
Mary Hayes, Ocean View

My friend Brett wanted to join my Destination Imagination (D.I.) team. Destination Imagination promotes creative thinking; you must think outside the box to solve a challenge. My teammate Kyle and I didn’t want him to join the team.. We thought he always argued and we didn’t want to give him a chance. Brett was always playing and we felt he would never pay any attention to our ideas. Brett was a one man team.
When he asked us if he could join the team we always said that we did not want any more people. We could have put him on the team, because we only had four people and we could have had up to seven. We just did not want Brett on the team.
It was not fair for him. He wanted to be on the team so badly, and we acted like we did not care about his feelings at all.
This did not build a better friendship. Brett was my friend, and I treated him like I wanted him to be miserable; friends never do that.
We could have benefited from letting Brett on the team. Brett was very creative, and he was a very talented, funny actor. He also is a good musician and a good singer.
The following year we imagined us being in Brett’s shoes, and we let him on the team. We know what Brett went though and what we did. We all promised never to do that again.

Living Out the 4-Way Test

Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cities
Jacob Kephart, First Place
Grade 8, Middle School Division
Mrs. Hjalmarson, Paulding

What would you do if someone treated you poorly? How would you respond? Would you seek revenge? My dad experienced a situation like this last year. However, he did not seek revenge but instead responded with good will and truth. This example, along with the consistently fair and truthful manner in which he lives his life, has been a powerful example to me of how to apply the 4-Way Test in every situation: is it the truth, is it fair, will it build good will and better friendships, and will it be beneficial to all concerned?
To begin with, my dad showed me what true honesty is. It started when a little league coach told my dad that he wanted to coach the all-star team with him. A lot of guys who had kids in the league told my dad that their kids wanted to play on his all-star team. When the time came for the draft, the little league coach decided that he wanted to take the older all-star team and put his son on it. One of the reasons this happened was that a few of the men whose kids were in the league told the coach to take the older team and put their kids on that team as well. This coach lied to my dad and left him without a coach and with few players to choose from. However, my dad confronted the coach, spoke to him in honesty and kindness, and refused to spread gossip.
My dad always showed fairness to the coach and the other men who lied to him. For example, the coach needed a job and asked my dad to help him get one at the prison where my dad works. My dad, who could have refused to help, decided to help him get a job. I was shocked when he did this, but then realized that it was the right thing to do. Also, one of the guys who lied to my dad asked my dad to help his kids get on a throwing program, and my dad helped him without giving it a second thought. My dad’s actions showed me what true fairness is.
Another important thing my dad did was build friendships with the men who wronged him. This not only benefited him and the men but the whole league as well. Even with what happened to my dad, he and the coach who had lied put together a club team. My dad talks with this coach and the other men involved on a regular basis. They are all friends because of how my dad treated them.
I learned what the 4-Way Test is by watching my dad live it. The 4-Way Test is not
just reading words over and over, but letting those words change you from the inside out. This change will result in living these principles on a daily basis. That is how my dad is, and this the way I am striving to be.