An Alarming Statistic Called "Good News"?

Retired Commissioner Joe Nolan recently wrote on The Rubicon (http://therubicon.org/2009/08/grasping-for-salvation/)

“Interestingly and coincidentally, in the July issue of Salvationist, the editor comments as follows: ‘Here is some good news: YP rolls peaked in the period following the 1950 International Youth Congress; more than 111,000 young people were on those rolls of whom 33,000 were junior soldiers. Half a century later those figures were approximately 14,000 and 7,000 respectively.’”

“Good news?

“I guess it can be interpreted as good news, the percentage of those becoming junior soldiers rising to 50%, the bad news being that the rolls have declined significantly: 111,000 to 14,000? She does go on to say that “statistics do not tell the whole story and in some cases can be misleading” (”Lies, damn lies and statistics,” said Disraeli, not me, I would have politely said “darn lies”).”

I concur with Nolan. We need to ask, “what planet are you living on” and “where did you learn your logic” of anyone who sees “good news” in 7,000 out of 14,000 youth being junior soldiers in the USA when there use to be 33,000 out of 111,000 fifty years before. The cited stat should send alarm not comforting good news. It signifies the Army in the US is dying and that the officer pool both in numbers and in quality of leadership is collapsing. If the quality of leadership at all levels is collapsing, the American Army (also similarly trends in Canada) as a whole is in decline, that decline will increasingly become evident on two levels, the number attending worship and a significant decline in support from the community. Support from the community will take longer to be felt but the first signs could start to show within seven years.