Official Organ Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order Of The State Of Texas. Founded 1897. HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
VOLUME
53 — No. 3
BROTHERHOOD
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 with Undeliverable Copies SUPREME LODGE, SPSST, P. 0. Box 100, TEMPLE, TEXAS
to:
JANUARY 20, 1965
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK A CHALLENGE' IN 1965 Several issues back, one of our esteemed members wrote to the Vestnik giving his ideas on why younger members are not taking more of an active role in local lodge affairs. His reasoning was that more of them would do so if more of the older members were willing to step aside and permit the younger ones to assume a more active role. In other words, the older ones were, in effect, preventing the younger ones from playing a fuller role in local lodge activities, and that consequently, the younger members had very little incentive to attend meetings and participate in lodge activities. He was asserting that the older ones were "entrenched" in their positions, and the younger ones couldn't get in, lost interest and stayed away. e Since that letter appeared two or three of our esteemed older members have responded to that charge with letters to our columns, with the countercharge that the younger ones would be gladly handed the reigns of power and responsibility in local lodge affairs, but that very few of them, in fact, attended meetings regularly enough to qualify for any position of leadership. Other contributors to the Vestnik frequently bemoan the absence of our younger members at lodge meetings. At this point, we should probably explain that by "younger members" we do not have in mind teenagers or juveniles, of course, but rather those in their thirties, forties, fifties, and even those in their twenties.
CAST THY BREAD . . Dale Carnegie says, "A third of the people who rush to psychiatrists for help could probably cure themselves if they would get interested in helping others." Some people think they can donate a !few dollars to charity and then close the book. But if you really want to .get interested in life, try to understand the problems of those around you — the postman. the delivery boy, the student, your employees — yes and your customers. These people are human beings like us — they are bursting with troubles, dreams and ambitions — iike us. They need sympathy, advice, a brotherly hand; remember, it doesn't "cost" anything to smile. "Cast thy bread" of kind words, genuine interest and a helping hand and watch it come back as whole loaves of joy and satisfaction. In visits to various lodges during the past few months, I have experienced two other situations that bear directly on the charge and countercharge stated above. In one instance, one member bitterly opposed and fought the assumption of lodge responsibilities by some younger, "newer" members, and only determined and dogged efforts were finally able to beat down this opposition, These "newer ones" are doing nicely in their new tasks. The opposition was based on nothing more than the premise that they're new around here and got
no business trying to run things." In the other situation, a member remarked that it did little good for younger ones to try to do anything, that they were told by the older ones to "be quiet and stay put," and were thus discouraged tfrom coming to meetings and trying to help. There is no doubt that there is a large element of truth in both of these positions, but we all know that attendance, in general, is rather poor at many of our lodges, even at some of our bigger lodges. Perhaps there are lodges where the older ones simply refuse to give way to the younger ones and consider the lodge as a sort of private lief; they may even resent the infusion of new blood into the lodge. However, from my experiences and travels around the state among our SPJST family, I would say that that is the exception rather than the rule, and that the younger ones are not "in" because of their indifference, lack of interest, and outright refusal to be a part of lodge affairs. They are governed by the "I-don't-want-to-bebothered" syndrome, which seems to be sweeping the country at the present time. The nation seems to be obssessed by this "leave-me-alone" attitude. A man was mauled by thugs on a crowded streetcar, and none of the twenty people looking on moved a muscle to help. A woman was assaulted and stabbed repeatedly while neighbors looked out and then pulled down their blinds. What sort of society is this that ceases to care for the affairs and welfare of fellow human beings? As