Most people know about the YMCA. A lot of us play pickleball at one of the branches or send our kids to summer camps. Few people today, however, likely know what the letters YMCA stand for, much less what the familiar red equilateral triangle represents.
The Fort Worth Metropolitan YMCA has an official history on its website, but this, as Paul Harvey used to say, is “the rest of the story.”
Originally, YMCA stood for Young Men’s Christian Association, beginning in England in 1879 as the idea of founder George Williams. The famous triangle symbol represented spirit, mind and body. The YMCA offered recreation and Bible study to young urban dwellers – meaning white men at that time. More than 150 years later, the YMCA no longer teaches Christian values, membership is no longer limited to men, young or otherwise, and it’s no longer a lily-white organization. The 21st century YMCA is a secular organization devoted to athletic programs for young and old…