Empire-Advance

    Having just attended the Rotary Club District Convention, I had the opportunity to read and re-read the Rotary Four Way Test. As much as possible, Rotarians around the world apply the Four Way Test to everything they say or do. Here’s the Four Way Test.

 

    • 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 have attended many Rotary meetings as a guest back to 1971. It was a few times as a guest speaker and nowadays more often that my wife is a member. I am an associate member.  In my experience as a newspaper- man, that dates back to 1968, I have tried to make sure we 

only print the truth. If I have failed to do that, it was never been intentionally or knowingly.

 

    The Bible says in John 8:32. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

    That verse applies initially to knowing Jesus, whereby a person is set free from the bonds of sin. I believe it spreads out even further. If you know the truth, you don’t have to strain your mind to remember what you said. I have heard hundreds of speeches and lectures, read numerous books and listened to more political promises and claims than I can possibly count. I believe I have developed a fairly strong filter to strain out the truth from half truths and the lies. I truly wish that people would apply the Four Way Test to all they say and write.

    The exception can be excused when you are making a joke or poking fun at a friend or a family member but I am talking about stating facts about political events, news and product descriptions and various scenarios. 

    Tell the truth and only the truth.

    We have heard some whoppers over the years.

    Here’s some of my favourites.

    In the 1970s, we were told the world would run out of oil in 20 years. It didn’t happen, but it might. In the meantime, we have more oil being discovered all the time.

    We were told the world is getting warmer. Yes, the world has gotten warmer at various times but it also has cooled down at times. There are those who argue that the world is actually in a cooling phase. Again back in the 70s, we were told the world was going to go into an ice age.

    Currently, we are being told that we are running out of electrical power in Manitoba. A few years back Manitoba Hydro and the Manitoba government were grieving that we couldn’t pay down Hydro’s debt as we couldn’t sell all the power brought to southern Manitoba by the infamous Bi-Pole lll power line.

    We are being told that we need to capture CO2 and pump it into the ground to save the environment. I may be wrong but I think we are to pump CO2 into the ground to make some people rich. And besides CO2 is good for plants.

    We are told that agriculture or farming isn’t good for the environment but in my lifetime in the area of Manitoba I am familiar with has more Canada and Snow geese than when I was a kid. There are more bald eagles, grackles, moose, deer, elk and coyotes. Farmers are doing something right.

    We are told that poverty breeds crime. That is only partly true. If poverty were a cause of crime , my two older brothers who were born in the Dirty Thirties, would have been criminals. Far from it, as they and I have never been unemployed for more than a couple of days in our whole lives.

    We are told that Mother Nature is kind and loving. Try telling that to the mother birds after the grackles, blue jays and crows have torn their babies apart.

    We are told that various people groups are kind and loving but that too is only partly true. There are some groups who are very cruel and heartless and that can include Muslims, Jews and Christians.

    I think we need a lot more truth and a lot more setting free

    Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.