President’s Message  That Appeared in the Spring 2012 Issue of the Courier

It is a myth that swans sing as they die.

I believe that my song will be of bewilderment and celebration. Bewilderment that I didn't get more accomplished; celebration for what I was able to accomplish – for what
we accomplished.

For the bewilderment, I take full responsibility for not doing more and accomplishing more. The celebration belongs more to the Officers, Board members, the
Outreach Committee, and all of the members who helped further the goals and ideals of the Coalition since I became president in 2008. I am proud to have been
at the helm when they did all that they have done.

Knowing the members as I do, we will continue to strive for that elusive goal of protecting the burial grounds of Maryland.

The big threat to the Coalition is the Coalition itself.

The Coalition is not self-destructing, verily, it is suffering from a malady affecting all modern civic organizations; the loss of membership, especially
those active within an organization. Robert D. Putnam, as presented in his book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, describes
the reduction in all the forms of in-person social intercourse upon which Americans used to found, educate, and enrich the fabric of their social lives.

Wikipedia further summarizes the book noting: “… the act of individual membership has not migrated to other, succeeding organizations. To illustrate
why the decline in Americans’ membership in social organizations is problematic to democracy, Putnam uses bowling as an example. Although the number
of people who bowl has increased in the last 20 years, the number of people who bowl in leagues has decreased. If people bowl alone, they do not participate
in social interaction and civic discussions that might occur in a league environment. … This data shows an aggregate decline in membership of traditional civic
organizations, proving his thesis that U.S. social capital has declined. He then asks the obvious question ‘Why is US social capital eroding?’ … He believes … demographic
changes have made little impact on the number of individuals engaging in civic associations. Instead, he looks to the technological ‘individualizing’ of our
leisure time via television, Internet and eventually ‘virtual reality helmets’.”

At a recent cemetery friends’ meeting I was asked if the Coalition would accept the assets of a friends’ organization if the organization had to cease existence under.
The caveat is that those assets be used for the continuance of the object cemetery.

This seems to fit into the original premise that the Coalition would assume ownership of cemetery assets. What I balked at was the thought that the Coalition
would be able to fulfill a commitment to an asset for any duration.

Back to the bowling analogy, and the theory that any organization generally has about 10% of its membership active at any time; the Coalition has about
90 members, with somewhere between 8 and 13 members active. Sounds about the norm. We, however, have not been able to field a quorum for the last two board meetings.

This is not a criticism of the membership, it is lamenting the lack of an active membership that can adequately serve the goals and principles that we have
selected to present as an organization. And that is indicative of society as we know it.

The same society that lacks the ability to preserve and protect a heritage space also destroys that space.

So I ask myself, “Why we do it?”  I think filmmaker Naomi Kothbauer’s statement, in an interview in the February 2012 issue of American Cemetery, stated in
reply to a question on why she took on the Burr Oak Cemetery story for her documentary, parallels exactly why we keep the Coalition alive. She stated the following:

“To remember the contribution of those who came before us, we wouldn't be where we are without them. How we honor people and their memory is important.
Visiting cemeteries provides an understanding and connectedness – everyone here had challenges and opportunities just like me, even if I didn't know them.

I want people to have a real appreciation of all cemeteries because it will be up to future generations to make sure that a ‘Bur Oak’ never happens again.”

The Coalition faces “Burr Oaks” on a regular basis.

Often we are unable to do little more than offer guidance. What our future generations do with the Coalition will be determined by how we set and
promote the appreciation of all burial sites and how we show our future generations how and why to honor the memory and importance of these Maryland Burial Sites.

The Coalition must remain active in the Protection of Maryland Burial Sites and must strive to bring more people into the civic sphere that promotes and provides that protection.

Let us bowl as a league for those we protect.

Melvin