Institute and the Environmental Committee of the National Trust, at a National Association for Reconciliation meeting moderated by Dr. Eva Hodgson on race and the environment: It is said that change begins when we ask a question. Several weeks ago, I called up Dr. Eva Hodgson with a question regarding race and the environment.

As a result of our ensuing discussion, the good doctor spied an opportunity, and through her actions (tenacious marketing), here we are today. Recently I commented to Dr. Hodgson, that even if only she and I showed up to carry on the dialogue, it would be a good thing.

Dr. Hodgson and I met through Diversity Skills Training at the Bermuda College. We learned valuable rules of the thumb in Diversity Training, these being that, the answer is in the room, and that all the people in the room, are the right people...that we should engage in active listening and that we value all the voices in the room.

Bermuda is a country embraced by volunteers. Our volunteers reflect the diversity of the Island, homegrown and foreign born, coming in all colours, sexes, ages, classes, abilities, sexual orientations, religions and spiritualities, and of course the myriad nuances of individuals.

We volunteer when we give a tourist a greeting or aid... When we assist an accident victim ... when we help clean up our community after a hurricane.

We volunteer when we give to our churches and charities ... when we clean up the ocean, a beach, park, woodland or street... . we give of our time, money and effort for children in need, the elderly, the infirm... we volunteer when we attend public forums on human relations, the environment, meetings with our government, and when joining together to dialogue on issues of current public interest... We volunteer when we choose to be an active part of a desirable solution, and not a further piece of the problem... We volunteer our time, money and effort to assist the disabled, those inflicted by drugs and those at risk. We mentor. We listen. We love. We care. We help with literacy and numeracy programmes in our schools.. . We assess needs, provide services and set up non-governmental organisations to fill cracks in the System, providing safety nets for those who society might otherwise have forgotten. We volunteer when we move to protect people, animals, property, yea our entire Island from criminal activity, poor policies or questionable governance.

We, all of us in this room, have volunteered our time to come here today, by accepting the gracious invitation of Dr. Eva Hodgson and the National Association for Reconciliation, to join together, to share and explore our feelings and ideas.

Imagine if you will, that volunteerism in Bermuda ended at 12 midnight tonight. What would tomorrow look like, and all the tomorrows thereafter? You would soon discover that the repercussions of non-volunteerism would be universally felt by all of us, in every aspect of our lives. In fact, our lives would probably end sooner, rather than later.

Relax, the volunteers are back. Thank God for volunteers. Government could never come up with the money, man, brain and heart power in a hundred years, to pay for what we do. We are the instigators of positive social change. We recognize that change is inevitable, and we actively choose to have a hand in influencing it. We endeavour to keep beauty in the world, and make sure that that beauty is available to all.

Volunteers possess something most governments rarely demonstrate -- an ability to think intuitively and bravely. Many of us see political expediency for what it is -- a stifler of positive social change and gatekeeper of the status quo.

But with all this good news about volunteers, we still wake up to bad news on the doorstep. Have things become worse, or have we increased our awareness of human rights and our environment, hence including ever more of our community within our protective umbrella? In spite of our efforts to volunteer our talents and resources, we often perceive little, overall improvement. We attempt to plug one opportunity gap and another opens.

Could this possibly have something to do with how we view and arrange the world, that we see our various issues as separate entities, forcing them into self-contained compartments? Does not poor race relations have a negative impact on children, does it not create a climate for criminality, the placing of environmental concerns on the back burner, and so on? Does neglect for our environment not have a negative impact upon our community's overall well being? Do we only wear one hat? Does your hat say that you for instance, are only concerned about race relations, that you, only care about the environment, and you, only children? Of course not, but we tend to limit others with issue labels, when in fact many of us are multi-tasking. And if we do remain in our issue boxes, we miss opportunities for discovering allies who might have been able to assist us in achieving our goals. We also make ourselves unavailable to assist others in achieving theirs. We may not recognise that our issues overlap, and might be cured together and quite possibly by the same solution.

It is said that change begins when we ask a question.

In the end, don't we all pray, in our heart of hearts, for the same things -- universal human rights and the embracing and celebrating of diversity, and for a safe, healthy, diverse and beautiful environment, so that all might enjoy fully, this miracle of a gift called Life.

DISCRIMINATION DIS CLUB CLB