FACES AND PLACES: Am I my brother's keeper? (05/14/06)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Am I my brother's keeper?

A highly successful Ukrainian American professional sent me an e-mail in response to my recent column about Ukrainian immigrants.

If you read what I write, you will recall that I suggested that we have an obligation to help recent immigrants because "they're family, for God's sake."

My respondent rejected that concept, arguing that his wife and children are family, not new immigrants. He also believes that our community expects too much of its professionals. His attitude is that the Ukrainian community has never helped him in his career so what does it want from him now? He still feels an obligation to his ethnic heritage, but he is sick and tired of the guilt-tripping from clergy and other community leaders who expect his help.

I respect my respondent's opinion. It's a good thing that he feels some kind of obligation, tenuous as it may be, to maintain his ethnic ties. I can also sympathize with the kind of pressure he feels (Who doesn't?) from various Ukrainian and American charities and organizations. Who needs more solicitation mail, for example? Mail one donation to one organization and soon you will be on dozens of mailing lists. At the same time, my respondent's ideas are somewhat disturbing. They're also old, like in the Old Testament.

After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked him where his brother was. Cain answered, "I know not; am I my brother's keeper?" Cain's words have come to symbolize our unwillingness to accept responsibility for the welfare of our "brothers," as it were.

Judaic and Christian tradition has it that people do have this responsibility. Parables such as the Good Samaritan and admonitions such as "Love thy neighbors as thyself" and "Love your enemies" (I'm still working on that one) are testimony to that.

From the very beginning, our entire existence as a distinct Ukrainian community in the United States has depended on building social capital. It began with our priests who moved into the anthracite coal regions of eastern Pennsylvania in the late 1880s and dragged our illiterate and apathetic coal-mining immigrants out of saloons to show them a different, more dignified way of life. Priests taught our first immigrants to read, to save, to invest their money, to organize labor unions, and to demand more equitable salaries and living conditions from their often avaricious employers. The first Catholic priest to join an American labor union was a Ukrainian.

The Ukrainian National Association was founded in 1894 in response to the needs of Ukrainian coal miners in need of financial protection. The UNA began as a "burial society," established to provide funeral expenses for miners killed in mining accidents. Branches, appropriately called "brotherhoods," were established in various cities, and eventually the UNA became the most vigorous and important organization in our community. At its height the UNA had almost 90,000 members, brotherhoods and sisterhoods from New York to California, a 15-story headquarters building, a summer resort, an office in Washington, a political presence in both American political parties, a daily newspaper in Ukrainian, a weekly publication in English, a children's magazine, a book store, and leaders with vision.

At the end of the Second World War, the UNA and other Ukrainian organizations established the United Ukrainian American Relief Committee (UUARC) for the sole purpose of welcoming and assisting Ukrainian displaced persons as they struggled to begin a new life in the United States. UNA members and other Ukrainian Americans found jobs and apartments for Ukraine's newest immigrants - people who had experienced the horrors of Soviet and German rule in Ukraine. My father, for example, sponsored over 100 families to America, many of whom he never met. He was not alone in this endeavor. The history of the UUARC, fittingly titled "Brat-Bratovi" or "Brother's Helping Hand," was published in 1971. It chronicles the efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

Traditionally, most of the work of our community has been and continues to be accomplished by volunteers - people who feel a duty to assist fellow Ukrainians, people who are willing to offer their talent and treasure so as to enrich our Ukrainian way of life. Every one of our communities has altruistic individuals who don't whine, don't quarrel, and don't impede others in the community who are similarly engaged.

Voluntarism and altruism are as American as apple pie. In "Democracy in America," Alexis de Tocqueville's monumental 19th century study of American socio-political culture, one reads: "When an American needs the assistance of his fellows, it is very rare for that to be refused, and I have often seen it given spontaneously and eagerly."

Service organizations such as Kiwanis, the Knights of Columbus, the Lions and Rotary, now found throughout the world, were first established in the United States.

The Peace Corps is another example of the kind of selflessness that appears to be uniquely American. On May 6 our local newspaper ran a story with the headline: "Family raised, couple will re-enter the Peace Corps." It was about Ray and Jan Ott, who served with the Peace Corps in Morocco in the early 1980s and always wanted to volunteer again. Now that their two children are grown and on their own, the Otts signed up for another tour, one that will send them to Western Samoa for two years.

In an age of increasing personal disengagement and decreasing social capital in the United States, it is more important than ever for Ukrainians to bond. In "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community," Prof. Robert D. Putnam makes the argument that social capital depends on a network of reciprocal social relations. "A society characterized by generalized reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful society ...," he writes. "Trustworthiness, not simply trust, is the key ingredient."

Dr. Putnam's analysis explains a lot. Ukrainians in Ukraine are distrustful and their society remains inefficient. Are the thoughts of my respondent a reflection of a similar trend here? Have we lost our moral compass? I pray not.

Myron Kuropas's e-mail address is: kuropas@comcast.net.

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