People Like Us

Many years ago, the famous comedian, Groucho Marx, received an invitation to join a certain organization. “No thanks,” Groucho replied. “I wouldn’t join any organization that would have me as a member.” How many of us could make that statement? For better or for worse, we live in a highly organized society. A standard question on most employment applications asks us to list our organizational memberships. The list appears also in most obituary notices. Even those who claim to have dropped out of the “rat race” tend to organize among themselves. To one degree or another most people are members of the “joiners society.” There are labor unions and credit unions, country clubs and social clubs, trade associations and professional associations, veteran’s organizations and service organizations, youth societies and senior citizen societies. A stamp collector joins a group with similar interests. Investors band together to form syndicates. Ex-students become members of the alumni. All of us know, I’m sure, what the letters S.P.C.A. stand for.…