I've been reading how Masonry, shriners, moose lodges and the like will all be gone in another couple of generations.
In the past, sons would follow on at their father's lodge byut that isn't happening at all anymore. I know several odd fellows and other type lodges around where I live are on caretaker status by... I'm not sure who, but they're no longer being used for meetings.
The insular nature of society in the US is probably to blame for this, as is the total shift in how we interact with one another, but young people simply don't want to join fraternal organizations anymore other than frats in gollege (and even those numbers are shrinking in some schools). I give the whole concept 40 years max, if even that.
I remember as I was growing up all the good these organizations did. A lot of prominent citizens were members of the organizations.
Speaking of following in paternal footsteps, it seems parents in general don't instill a sense of community in their children - I see it with the 20- somethings I work with. Very selfish, self absorbed.
