Primary Colors

Don't worry - this is not about the Joe Klein book, Primary Colors. That book was a fictional novel of politics that purports to describe real life characters and events . Many thought it was about Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign in 1992. No, this story is much more benign. It is the story of my history with the YMCA and how the "Y" has morphed into something the founders could probably not have believed.

I am calling this article Primary Colors as for many years, these colors were proudly displayed at most every YMCA to describe the Association's core values. The core values are:

• Honesty
• Respect (yellow)
• Caring
• Responsibility

Some YMCAs added a fifth color, purple, which stands for Faith in God. However, some of the more "PC" cities nixed that one as they "did not want to offend".

My history with the YMCA began in 1956. When I was a young six year old lad, my Father got us involved in a local YMCA program called "Indian Guides". This was a program to encourage fathers and sons to do fun things together. Our neighborhood group formed a "tribe" and everyone took an Indian name. Our group was the Mandan Tribe and my name was Little Wind (my dad was Big Wind).

When I was in the fourth grade, I joined Gra-Y. Gra-Y was an after hours program where a YMCA youth worker would visit a school to organize activities such as bombardment, kick ball and other fun games. After grade school came Junior High. No worries - the YMCA had a program for that also - Jr. Hi-Y. Again, it was similar to grade school as it was for after hours activities. However, the activities were more advanced (football, softball and basketball). Finally, there was Hi-Y where clubs would form in high school and engage in fun young adult activities. Sometimes there would be a joint (before the word became a dope word) get together with a Y-Teens (girls YMCA) group from another school. It was a great way to have some good, clean fun and meet kids from around the city.

Over the years, I grew into manhood, got married, and had kids. I changed but not as much as the YMCA did. The YWCA diminished as the YMCA grew. The Young Men's Christian Association started to lose its meaning. "Young", "Mens", and "Christian" all went out the window. It was now just an association. Since there really was no more YWCA, both my girls were involved in YMCA camping programs. I was on the Board of Directors at one camp and two branch locations. I saw the YMCA transform from a programs oriented association that I grew up in to nothing more than an expensive health club. The cooperation and association with local schools conducting after hours programs had long since ended. Prayer and devotions at meetings were now rare, sometimes even taboo (don't want to offend anyone).

So where is the YMCA today? The bold, primary colors which stood for strong values are now gone only to be replaced by pastels. I will always have good memories of the YMCA and YWCA form my youth, when both associations were program based and dedicated to faith based youth development. I still go to a YMCA health club, a very expensive health club, three times a week. That is the extent of my current involvement. Some say we outgrew the YMCA as it was - I say we outgrew the values which allowed primary colors to act as a beacon attracting youth from near and far.