By Bob Weaver
Calhoun once had dozens of civic and fraternal groups, all of which required personal, voluntary involvement, now fading into less than a handful, with the closure of Grantsville's VFW 5959, the facility long located on Mill Street.
With a lack of members, the local group was closed by the state and national VFW and the building will be sold.
While dozens of civic organizations were flourishing, among the last remaining is the Grantsville Lions Club, which has given back to the community tens of thousands of dollars for nearly a hundred years.
Volunteerism has been dying in the USA for about fifty years, few are interested in the "public good," taken over by conspicuous consumption of screen technology (Facebook the leader), entertainment (including politics) and feel-good products.
Human involvement, including church-going, has been facing detachment, people spending their time in an a fanciful virtual world, lack of face-to-face contact.
Where the rubber is meeting the road with a few threads left is volunteer fire departments, barely hanging in rural communities.
In my lifetime, I believed that's what citizens were supposed to do - personal
While citizen's are quick to rant against almost everything, few show up to contribute, senselessly uttering, "Why doesn't somebody do something about ...?, ignoring they're the somebody.
As the last flag is down at the VFW, having honored America's Veterans in this county with hundreds of Hur Herald stories, we honor their contributions one more time.
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