VIEW FROM THE TREMBITA LOUNGE: The question not answered (03/19/06)

VIEW FROM THE TREMBITA LOUNGE

by Taras Szmagala Jr.

The question not answered

"You never did give me the answer to my question," Marko reminded me, as we occupied our familiar seats at the bar. "What question?" I responded. "The question I asked you last year, remember? Why, exactly, should the UNA exist?"

Oh. That question. No wonder I forgot - it's not a topic I particularly enjoy.

"I'm not letting you off the hook, you know, and with the convention coming up, don't you think you should have an answer?" Marko was not gloating, but he was not about to let me change the subject.

"Didn't Stefko Kuropas answer your question in his reply to me last year? His article was thoughtful, well-considered and even hopeful," I offered. "Detailed and thoughtful, yes," Marko conceded, "but, as his father's articles often are, his response was rooted firmly in the past."

"So what's wrong with that? After all, you have to know your past successes and mistakes to know your future." I felt as if I were a motivational speaker standing in at a Dale Carnegie presentation.

"Oh, Taras, please," sighed Marko. "To have a future, you need a mission. And like it or not, the UNA does not have a mission. Just because the UNA was the organizational glue that held us together in 1962 doesn't mean that it has a role in our community in 2006."

"We would not have a community now if it weren't for the UNA," I reminded Marko.

"Yes, that's true," Marko smiled, "but that does not tell me why we need the UNA today."

"You're forgetting the Fourth Wave - the new immigration," I countered. "They still need life insurance."

"Agreed," countered Marko, "but is that the primary job of the UNA? To sell life insurance? I thought the UNA was a fraternal organization - with a primary role to organize. Isn't that the real benefit of the Ukrainian National Association - to be a force for organization? To make us greater than the sum of our parts?"

"Exactly!" I responded. I had finally converted Marko to my point of view.

"Then, Taras, why isn't the UNA doing its job?" Marko quickly burst my bubble. "Look at the headlines of The Ukrainian Weekly during the last year. It was eventful - we had the Orange Revolution, the repeal of Jackson-Vanik, the gas crisis, you name it. And when the U.S. community responded, was it the UNA responding? No. It was the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. It was UCCA. It was community leaders in New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere. But it was not the UNA. Taras, we're doing a lot of organizing - a lot. But the UNA is not doing it."

"So what's wrong with the UNA, Marko?" I decided to do something I, too, rarely do: listen. "Tell me what the UNA is doing wrong."

"The UNA isn't doing anything wrong, Taras." Marko took the edge off his criticism, seeing that I was hurting a bit. "It's just that the UNA's greatest strength - its organizing abilities - are not as relevant now as they were 40 years ago. It's nice to buy a $50,000 term life policy from the UNA and have the profits go to our community. But branch meetings are not the center of our community life today. We have scouting organizations, dance groups, political affiliations, professional associations - we have every organizational group you can think of - so why do we need the UNA to organize us? Organization is critical, but why assume the UNA is the entity that does the organizing?"

Truth be told, I am conscious of my Ukrainian heritage today in no small part because of the UNA. And my fiancée's experience is the same - Helen's father was the treasurer of the KSKJ, which is the Slovenian equivalent of our UNA. But if God grants us children, their experience will be different. We will do our best to inculcate our love of our heritage in them - we hope they will participate in the activities of our communities. But we know they will not participate in the UNA or the KSKJ to the extent my father, or Helen's father, did. That's not because either is a bad organization - it's just because they are not as relevant to the organization of our communities today.

So what does that mean for us? Well, it means we have a lot to discuss at the upcoming UNA Convention. For example: how do we move forward with a business model that is not working? What do we do with our publications? And with Soyuzivka? These are all real questions, and they cannot be answered with appeals to be more patriotic or organized. They are structural issues that are only going to get more pronounced in the future.

As we near the 2006 convention of the Ukrainian National Association, I pray that we embrace change. I pray for the understanding that our organization is not what it once was - not because of any individual leaders, but of historical circumstance and change within our community. May we have the courage to face that reality, with whatever ramifications it may bring.

And may we keep our eye ono the most important goal: an organized vibrant, socially and politically aware Ukrainian American community, existing regardless of the entities through which that goal is accomplished.

Taras Szmagala Jr. may be reached at Szmagala@yahoo.com.

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