Address of Youth Leadership Council National Spokesperson Scott Goehring:
The Road Less Traveled
NRECA Annual Meeting: Second General Session
March 20, 2007
Each and every one of us is on a path. The question we must answer is how each footstep we take will affect that path. Our experiences with the Youth Tour and the Youth Leadership Council have given us a chance to look through the pages of history at the paths our forefathers took.
As we gazed upon the walls of the Jefferson memorial, we considered the words of one of the great minds behind this nation’s guiding principles.
As we walked beside the wall of the Vietnam memorial, we were struck with the great price paid by so many before us to preserve our freedom.
And as we marveled at the rotunda of the capitol building, we were filled with pride in the knowledge that we are the capital of freedom and democracy.
The Youth Tour and the Youth Leadership Council are about more than sightseeing, more than speeches, and more than electrification. These programs are about building leaders.
The great American poet Robert Frost wrote, "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." Through this experience, the other YLC members and I learned that that is exactly what the electric cooperative industry did. These programs have shown us the path of rural electrification - one that was uncharted until the 1930s.
When power companies were shying away from a need, when critics were shouting about impossibilities, the electric co-ops blazed a trail through the road not traveled and that has made all the difference in millions of lives.
To follow in those footsteps, let us first be courageous - like the men and women who began the process of rural electrification. Against all odds and all criticism, they electrified the country. They ventured into an uncharted market in an unprecedented manner - as a non-profit cooperative, owned and operated by the same people they served. That path led to a stronger America.
And cooperatives pursue their clearly defined mission of keeping the lights on by practicing the Seven Cooperative Principles. A fundamental principle is democratic member control. As member-owners of my local cooperative - Dixie Electric - my family has always been well informed of the decisions made by our elected board and has always been invited to join in annual meetings to help shape our co-op’s direction. Education, training, and information is another cooperative principle. From our experience with this program, it is clear that the nation’s electric co-ops actively practice this principle by the example of the members of the Youth Leadership Council on stage with me now. If they put this much time, effort, and funding into educating the youth of this nation, imagine what they do for their own members and employees.
Concern for Community is, without a doubt, the most widely experienced of all co-op principles. I know that my local co-op participates in food drive and cancer-relief efforts every year. On a broader scale, the electric cooperatives were some of the first on the scene to offer hope and aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita with food, water, and, of course, power.
By taking to heart the model laid out before us by each of our cooperatives, I know we all can not only take the road less traveled, but if we need to, blaze a trail where there is no path.
The members of the Youth Leadership Council are each nearing a milestone in our paths. Most of us will be ending our road through high school very soon and beginning our trek through college courses and job training. Soon, we'll have a thousand paths to choose from: medicine, law, and education; we may even work for an electric cooperative. Let us find what we are truly passionate about - so that when we reach that milestone, we can sprint down the path that's right for each of us. Above all, let us not be afraid to take chances like the pioneers of rural electrification.
Teddy Roosevelt once said, "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly."
Teddy Roosevelt expressed the greatest lesson the Youth Tour and the Youth Leadership Council– the lesson of true leadership. We’ve learned from the examples of our nation’s forefathers and the grave markers at Arlington Cemetery, that true leadership involves taking chances when the odds are stacked against us and remaining steadfast in the face of seemingly insurmountable opposition. George Washington embodied this spirit when he set a strong precedent for an infant democracy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt embodied this spirit when he carried a hurting nation through the Great Depression. The member-owned electric cooperatives also embodied this spirit when they took their chances in uncharted territory. I had a superficial understanding of leadership before participating in this program; I speak for all in front of you today when I say that we all now understand what leadership – what true leadership – truly means. We thank you for that!
As FDR said, "We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon." We stand here before you today looking out on that horizon; equipped by the faith you have in us to lead this country on a path to prosperity.
So thank you to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, to the board members and managers for sponsoring the Youth Tour and the Youth Leadership Council. To my cooperative, Dixie Electric, and to the Alabama Rural Electric Association, please accept my heartfelt gratitude for giving me one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I would like to thank all electric cooperatives for the service they provide and the spirit in which they provide it.
We have all taken so much away from this experience. We thank all of you who represent electric cooperatives, for blazing a trail that we can follow and giving us the opportunity to walk this path; to be strong; to be courageous and to be leaders. |
