CULTURAL CHANGES MAY BE NEEDED

As we move into the 21st century, and as we see what is happening to our chapters and the Council, with focus on declining memberships and inability to find motivated and highly qualified members willing to assume leadership positions, we may need to introduce specific cultural changes.

Barbara Walters of 20/20 did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that the women cultomarily walked 5 paces behind their husbands.

She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. From Ms. Walters vantage point, despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to walk even further back behind their husbands and are happy to maintain the old custom.

Ms Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked “Why do you now seem happy with the old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?

The woman looked Ms Walters straight in the eyes and without hesitation said, “Land mines.”

We’re talking about the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, and institutions and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of the CAL-MOAA communit/population.

Are we spending our time as if we were rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?

The 26 April EXCOM meeting might mark the beginning steps in a significant cultural change for the Council and many of our chapters. Do what you can to influence the vote.

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