FACES AND PLACES: The way it was and could be again, if... (05/28/06)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

The way it was and could be again, if...

A sure sign of growing old is thinking more about the past than the future. I'm doing some of that in this column as I reflect about the Ukrainian National Association and the organization that it once was.

Most of my memories of the UNA are very pleasant. I met Lesia at Soyuzivka, the UNA estate, when both of us were teaching Ukrainian Cultural Courses there. I married Lesia at Soyuzivka. Our son Stefko met his Lesia at Soyuzivka, and married her there as well. I served as national UNA vice-president, as did my father and Stefko. Our son Michael is currently an advisor on the General Assembly. The UNA has been good to our family.

I had the privilege of working with five UNA presidents - Dmytro Halychyn, Joseph Lesawyer, John O. Flis, Ulana Diachuk and Stefan Kaczaraj. Each of these individuals had their own, unique administrative style.

There was a time when the UNA was the premier organization in our community. It was the UNA that helped establish the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America in 1940. It was the UNA that was in the forefront of the effort to erect a statue of Taras Shevchenko in Washington, an endeavor that culminated in some 100,000 Ukrainians attending the unveiling in 1964. It was the UNA that published a daily newspaper in Ukrainian, a weekly newspaper in English, a children's magazine, a two-volume English-language encyclopedia of Ukraine and annual almanacs.

I was proud to be an officer of an organization that was involved with the campaign to establish a Ukrainian Studies Chair at Harvard; that established an office in Washington; that created a Heritage Defense Committee to defend the Ukrainian name against vilification; that organized UNA Days in Washington to lobby Congress on behalf of Ukrainian causes; that erected a 15-story building in Jersey City; that was in the forefront of the effort to establish the Ukraine Famine Commission by the U.S. Congress; that financed a film, "Helm of Destiny," about our immigration and its travails; that offered dividends and low-rate mortgages to its members; that managed a book store that contained the latest publications about Ukraine; that established summer cultural courses at Soyuzivka for teenagers who lived in geographic areas where no Ukrainian schools operated; that contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to various Ukrainian causes; and that provided hundreds of deserving Ukrainian students with money for college.

Today the UNA is a shadow of its former self. Many of the fraternal benefits that were once so attractive are gone. Membership is down significantly and the UNA has been forced to downsize. Those who still agonize over the decline have their own explanations. Here are mine.

One reason for the decline is the changing cultural landscape in America. Fraternalism is a concept that was popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of America's ethnic groups, it seemed, were establishing fraternal insurance companies during this period. In addition to death benefits, these societies provided their communities with money to build churches, establish reading rooms, sponsor sports teams and publish newspapers - all in an effort to preserve the ethnic heritage and to maintain their visibility. Sociologists inform us that our sense of community in America is declining. With the exception of the Polish National Alliance and the Sons of Norway, most ethnic fraternals are barely breathing. We're no exception. Where once the UNA sold 4,000 policies a year, we now barely sell 400.

A second reason we're losing our edge is the apathy of the Ukrainian generation born in the 1950s and 1960s, those who today are in their 40s and 50s. The children of parents who fled the Soviets are not coming up to the plate. They don't even acknowledge the existence of a "plate." The attitude of some seems to be: "The Ukrainian community didn't help me when I needed it, so why should I help the community now?" Others were simply turned off by the incessant "guilt tripping" and "obligation mongering" of their parents. Saturday school, Plast and SUM may have enhanced their cognitive Ukrainianism, but failed in the affective arena. They don't view our community with affection, let alone love. They know Ukrainian history, but not Ukrainian American history. They know little about the sacrifices of those who came before them, those who built the churches and institutions cherished by their parents.

Being Ukrainian for them wasn't fun. It was an obligation. Once they went away to college, many stayed away. Those who remained in the community did so because it was fun - fun to dance, fun to sing and, in my case, fun to go to meetings and challenge the old guard. That was all part of being a Kuropas, a family trait as it were. Being a maverick, however, isn't always fun. Sometimes you get beat up. That's a risk this generation is afraid to take. They expected a rose garden, found a briar patch and ran for the woods.

As UNA delegates from all over the United States convene at Soyuzivka this Memoral Day weekend, they need to cut to the chase quickly. Forget wasting endless hours debating reports of officers. Forget the blame game. Forget passing resolutions that will never be implemented. Forget eliminating even more fraternal benefits. Forget cosmetic changes. Eschew stop-gap measures offered by a fossilized leadership.

For decades, UNA success was based on a simple but very basic formula: more fraternal benefits equals more members equals more assets equals more fraternal benefits. Is that so complicated? There is a symbiotic relationship between fraternal benefits and membership growth. Fraternal benefits provide reasons to buy insurance from the UNA and not from Metropolitan Life.

Saving our future means returning to the basics. The UNA can be turned around with the proper care and grooming of a responsible, young and focused leadership. Hopefully, the delegates will understand this and do the right thing.

Myron Kuropas's e-mail address is: [email protected].

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