Age, society overwhelm veterans' groups
We should never forget.
How often do we hear that phrase about veterans? And how often we forget.
America is quick to send our men and women to war, but once the fighting has stopped, the people who have made the ultimate sacrifice or whose lives were radically changed forever are quickly forgotten. Funds for rehabilitation and hospital care dwindle. Memories fade. Sacrifice becomes history.
And the two groups we could count on for reminding us to never forget, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion, are, saddest of all, heading into the sunset. Membership is declining, members are getting old and dying, and posts are closing little by little across Waukesha County and the nation. There are some notable exceptions, but the direction of the overall tide is clear and not encouraging.
On Friday, Veterans Day will be 11-11-11, and as reporter Donna Frake documents in her story this week, memberships in these stalwart organizations is waning, and the decline is starting to fall more steeply as the active World War II and Korean War vets retire, become informed or die.
Alexis de Tocqueville's famous treatise on America portrayed our country as a nation of joiners. Even as recently as a few generations ago, he was right. Not anymore. Service clubs, bowling leagues, unions, fraternal organizations and even mainline churches are increasingly finding it difficult to grow memberships.
The advent of two-income families, longer work hours, higher parental involvement in their children's lives and so many other factors, even Facebook, have conspired through the law of unintended consequences to make joining passe in many ways. As connected as we say we are, we are often more isolated than ever.
What kind of nation have we become when we promise to never forget, but the last vestiges of those who remind us to never forget are in danger of themselves being forgotten?
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