Local Matters First

It’s easy to get swayed and overwhelmed by the daily drama unfolding at the national level: who’s being indicted for what, who accidentally posted a semi-nude to social media instead of privately messaging their child prostitute, who is acting as an unregistered foreign agent… but it’s important to remember that most of what they do will have little affect on your everyday life. 

When we think of feeling seen, or heard, or empowered in your community, it’s essential that we think and act locally.  This goes beyond shopping at your farmer’s market or getting the coffee roasted locally at your neighborhood shop while you work remotely.  It’s about getting engaged with your local politicians, your student government, your churches, your charities. 

The pandemic taught us how easy it is to retreat inside the comfort of our homes, apartments, or embrace the van-life. But retreating into our shell like Mitch McConnell’s head receding back into his torso after another failed attempt to control the monster he unleashed won’t save us.  In fact, it’ll likely do even more harm as those of us lacking the Shame Monster that taunts the rest of us fail to not only take action but to even speak up, speak out, speak against these incredibly non-normal times. 

I’m not asking or suggesting that you spread-eagle on the table of justice as the enemy slowly rips you limb from limb while you scream freeeeedddooooommm!  We don’t need a modern day William Wallace and we surely don’t need any more political violence.

We need normal people to step up and run for your city government, school boards, volunteer for election support, be Big Brothers and Big Sisters.  We need Americans to embrace the humanity that made us the Shining City on a Hill.  We need Americans that can read and write in at least 1 language (set the bar low) and ideally handle basic arithmetic.