The power and importance of local news is sometimes overlooked and often misconstrued. We live in a culture dedicated to the proposition that bigger is better. Ergo, national news must be more important. In Stockbridge, a village that still operates under the town-meeting form of government, an informed electorate is crucial. For the self-governed, local news is paramount.
Some misconstrue. They think because local news is overlooked by other outlets; it is an opportunity, and that is the reason to provide a local paper such as Stockbridge Updates. It is more than that.
Sociologists tell us that the smallest unit of society, the family, interprets the meaning of events for its members and defines the possibilities. In a similar way, the smallest political unit, our locality, lends identity. Locality centers us and, in some cases, defines us. Local news lends perspective.
On the local level, we realize that each of us can make a difference. What is possible is revealed; inability and impotence are set aside. We know we can act. We know our actions matter. We understand the power and importance of the individual.
This period in our political history is fraught. It is important for us to feel relevant at a time when it is easy to feel small and impotent. Focus locally. Realize you are known, You have identity, a voice, and a place to be heard. Don’t forget that.
Walk right in, sit right down, and tell them the way you see it. What matters as much as your opinion is your ability to voice it.
You know what to do when the house is on fire? Save as much as you can; cede as little as you can; help as many as you can. No matter your politics, there is no denying this period is one of rapid change.
Do you think it is moving too fast to discriminate which are the good moves and which are the foolish ones? No such thing because all the big decisions are ameliorated by something small—the small place where we live. A place small enough to recognize our neighbors, to see past the flimflam, to hear the soothing words, and quiet enough to remember the ideas of old, of our teachers and parents. Small and valuable from what is big and brassy. Protect this very special place in which we live and call home.
