“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”
- Kurt Vonnegut 

Rosewater Foundation – Its Purpose, Development and Inspiration

Welcome to the Rosewater Foundation (www.rosewaterfoundation.org), a quotations site, and non-profit organization, established in May, 2005. Our mission here is simple. Through this project we hope to provide encouragement, wisdom, and inspiration to anyone reading through the various quotes and documents on our website. Everything we have collected, in the form of essays, editorials, and quotations, affirms the core values and direction of this organization. Secondly, the Rosewater Foundation is a donation site supporting the continuation and development of the following online communities:

The Runway (therunway.ca) was founded in the spring of 2004. As an avid runner, I felt compelled to start my own running club. In pursuit of this goal, the idea developed in many different directions, but eventually an online community emerged as the final product. This project could not have taken place without the help of Kaalum Ross, a good friend and Calgary-based artist, he initiated The Runway logo and created the original runway.ca template.  

 
Confluence of the Routes (confluenceoftheroutes.com) is the result of a second collaboration with Kaalum Ross. Stemming from a fascination with bohemian movements and the love of art, we began its development in the fall of 2004. The site offers unique features such as: a graphic arts gallery, a photo gallery, areas for members to display poetry and music, as well as a quotes section and chat room.  

Quakers Online ( www.quakersonline.org) was my first attempt at a website template.  I took interest in the Quakers after writing the core values statement for this website, and started attending meeting a month or so later.   I am hoping this site will be functional for membership before the end of 2005

 
Not being a website developer myself, I had to enlist the services of another company, Perfection Design (perfectiondesign.com), to create and install all the custom made software on our first two online communities. Eric Vigneault is also currently working on the quotes section of this website, and has recently taken on the task of being our webmaster.

The Rosewater Foundation was inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s novel, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; a tale about a man born into immense wealth who feels ill at ease with his position of privilege, and disenchanted with its associated obligations. Eliot Rosewater, the novel’s rich eccentric, turns his back on high society to devote his life to serving the poor. Feeling this way about things myself, he became my first hero, and to this day I aspire to be more like him. This site is not only a tribute to Vonnegut’s fictional hero, but to the author himself, as well as to the countless authors and figures, both public and private, who have affirmed my suspicions that the way of life, being lived around me, was not only wrong, but pointed out alternatives for a more compassionate, humane way of being. A list of such individuals can be found in our ‘Quotes’ section, and includes the likes of Terry Fox, E.F. Schumacher, Ivan Illich, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, as well as many others.

 
This site’s success, and the success of our online communities, depends on the involvement of other committed individuals. Just like Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope or Gandhi’s Non-Violent Non-Cooperation, it is not alone that great people turn great ideas into great successes, but in finding an audience that recognizes these things and responds to them, to become a part of something much bigger…. in an attempt to make the world a much better place.  

 
“Still and all, why bother? Here's my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.”
- Kurt Vonnegut