The other day as I was online, I wondered why can’t we just get along? Why is it that there is so much infighting and politics amongst those in the wheeling world? Especially where social media plays a part, as there is no one truck, wheeling style or skill set is better than another.
There are many risks to such visual infighting, ones that many people do not understand. With two formal Facebook groups of over 17,000 and 35,000 members, anything and everything that happens on those pages are highly visible to those that belong and the media and those that want to find fault within our community. The mitigation of infighting is exhausting to the volunteers, and as a result, it prevents those who want to step up and help from doing so, as no one enjoys being in that line of fire.
Along with this, there is a huge opportunity cost that is hurting our progress in moving trail access in BC forward. Time spent mitigating situations that have gone awry is time that could be better spent building education and safety programs or organizing community events like the Big Brothers and sisters run to create a positive legacy and change lives.
Here in BC, we need one wheeling family that uses dual-energy to resolve our issues. Frankly, we can’t achieve our goals of public access to public land unless we focus our energies on joint ventures and ensure any negative energy is pushed into making a difference. To achieve this, we need to encompass the character traits of respect, accountability, and mentoring those who do not yet have these skill sets. Like all families, we aren’t going to agree 100% of the time with each other, but we can find a civil way to resolve our differences.
BC’s Four Wheel Drive Association votes for one person who embodies those characteristics as “Wheeler of the Year.” I feel that two of my fellow wheelers, with a wise perspective beyond their years, truly deserve those titles. Both sit at the heart of the BC wheeling world; Kim Reeves (president) and Matt Ion (Social Media/Webmaster).
Without Kim as the president for the last 7 years, we would not have many things that our wheeling world takes for granted, including the Hale and Nahatlatch Shelters. It takes a “village” to care for the wheeling world and turn it into one family, but that village also requires a strong Leader such as Kim. Matt patiently works through the social media aspect and website tensions, leading maintenance runs, helping clean-ups, raising awareness for events, and numerous other tasks as needed. He dreams of living technicolour of what can be accomplished and makes those things happen.
These two look for solutions instead of problems; they raise the bar in communication and understand the importance of focusing on the positive aspects and what the association and large volunteer base do to help. Every opportunity there is there in heart, soul, body, and mind to move forward your wheeling world.
They share a skill set that I admire: decorum and open-mindedness with approaching challenges and damaging situations. They refuse to allow our world to be dragged into shaming, humiliation or degradation; we can all learn from this. Most importantly, with such a positive attitude, we can teach others and help them mentalize the behaviors we want them to have, which is a much better option than slipping into willful hedonism that causes the type of decay and destruction that you cannot find beauty in.
Recently we temporarily lost access to the Nahatlatch Forrest Fire Lookout, and the issue quickly became a hot topic. Tempers flared, many people having ideas on finding their solution; the board worked diligently to keep the case at a low simmer to ensure permanent damage to our ability to renegotiate access was not jeopardized. True to form, within ten days, the board met with the stakeholders to identify the issues and successfully renegotiated access for members and the entire wheeling family in BC that leaves us in a positive light, not risking access to other areas.
All of us in the wheeling world look forward to watching where the association grows as many new projects come to light over the next few years. I want to thank you, and I’m sure many others will agree, to the board of the association for the role model they set for all of us and the sacrifices you make to build a one-wheeling family working for a common goal.
Thanks to your efforts, you have made thousands of memories and made an enormous difference in our environment here in BC. We reached these goals because we worked together, putting aside our differences. You and the entire board of directors embody everything accurate to the wheeler’s creed in helping to make BC one Wheeling family and what many of us should aspire to.
However, in that journey to where we are on a dirt road today, we learned from others. We all started not knowing what we were doing, we have all made mistakes, and we all experienced that first excitement of what a dirt road would bring us. Just imagine what we as a wheeling family could accomplish if we all held ourselves to the same standards of dedication and decorum as the board of the association.
Trix's Trax 