Want Success? Just Ask Questions

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." Archbishop  Dom Helder Camar

Whenever my  teachers and professors asked that rhetorical question: "Are there any more questions?" they looked nervously in my direction. I always have a lot of questions. Many times in the past the powers that be viewed my questions as a threat. I make them nervous. I am rarely content to accept injustice and inequality as just how things are.


Just yesterday, nobody felt threatened. They gave me more than I asked for. Maybe I'm asking better questions or becoming more tactful in middle age.


I have been driving through the spectacular Klickitat Canyon on the way to the town of Klickitat for over fifteen years. When I enter the small town of Klickitat I drive past a large vacant industrial lot. It has the look of abandonment. The lot contrasts to the relatively new and well kept school and the tidy lawns of the town proper. I always wondered what it was, who owned it and why it was so ugly. It seemed like a wonderful space for something positive: a skateboard park...a garden?


As I have done my whole life I just started asking questions. Who owns that piece of land? How many government entities have a say in it? Who do I talk to? What are the requirements to get permission to use it? How do I get access? Can we put a garden there?


The land abuts a trail that winds through the Klickitat Canyon called the Rails to Trails. The trail runs along what used to be railway that ran the length of the Klickitat Canyon. At one time the primary access to the town of Klickitat, other than horse, was the train. When the train run was abandoned it became part of the national Rails to Trails trail system.


Knowing some of this history I began talking to key players. The historical society wants to capture the nostalgia and magic of the train era history by bringing a caboose to the town.The Rails to Trails group wanted a trail head. The local community action committee wants an expanded community garden. The school needs expanded parking spaces. Two high school juniors who have already written grants for a school garden want to grow food for the school. I kept gathering information, talking to people and asking questions...a lot of questions. I started to see how perhaps all these groups could get their goals met and help the other groups meet their goals. Slowly I became a community organizer.


I see things other people don't always see. Where some see an abandoned lot I see a thriving community garden with a beautiful green caboose as its centerpiece. In the spring, community members gather to work on the garden, and then retreat to the comfort of the caboose with its wood stove to share a cup of coffee or tea and the rural hyperbole custom of  fishing and hunting lies.


With all this information swirling around my head I approached Jerry Lynch, the superintendent of Klickitat schools. Talking to Jerry brings reminds me of talking to a grandfather or an elder. He speaks with a voice of long experience. He tempers my youthful enthusiasm with wisdom and punctuates his advice with cautious tales born from long experience of working with schools and communities. He supports my ideas and passion from the stance of the seasoned battle veteran. I listen carefully and proceed with a combination of my passion and Jerry's wisdom.


As it turns out, the land belongs to Klickitat County. Many phone calls, emails and redirects later (No you need to talk to that department)  I ended up at the Klickitat County Public Works Department. I entered with my analytical inquisitive mind and a notepad. I had heard the county would want a plan. I envisioned landscapers, planners, sketches, blueprints and my biggest weakness: Details.


"We would prefer to just give that land to the school."


Wow. Amazing. Stupendous.


Could it really be that easy? The bare scarred lot I had driven past for so many years could now be just transferred to the school? Yes it's that easy. Now I get to meet with Jerry Lynch, and perhaps the school board to see if they can afford to accept the gift. I'm sure there will be a lot of questions. I have a few more too.