Letter to the Editor:

Want a Strong America? Join a Civic Group

There are big concerns across our country about the divisions within our country. Republicans and Democrats are at each other’s throats. Red and blue states are struggling for dominance. Urban and rural people seem to live in different worlds. Some say the cause of this mayhem are “elites” or the rich with sinister motivations. Others feel technology, the media, foreign adversaries or other causes are to blame. We feel these forces right here in Martin County.

An antidote to all this is our local civic organizations. There are many: service clubs (Rotary, Kiwanis, Eagles, Service Club), veteran’s organizations (American Legion, Veterans Memorial) conservation groups (Fairmont Lakes Foundation, Pheasants Forever, Martin County Conservation Club) and focused organizations such as Women of Today, Kinship, Project 15-90, Let’s Go Fishing, Heaven’s Table, CREST, just to name a few – there are many, many more. Organizations such as these are the bedrock of democracy: people working together to make our community a better place.

Know someone who spends too much time looking at a screen, angry and isolated? Bring them as a guest. Personally, I am active with the Early Risers Kiwanis and Kinship. Each time I participate in these groups, I feel better about my community, my country and myself. I learn to appreciate people who are very different from me. Together, we make a difference.

The actions of volunteers in civic groups here in Martin County are the foundation of a strong America.

Eric B. Johnson

Fairmont, Minn.