A little closer to home

A couple of years ago, I was listening to a conference keynote speech with colleagues, when a newspaper editor across the banquet table pulled out his cellphone and started tweeting.

I still remember my shock that this grown professional, like some bored teenager, would care more about connecting with his Tweeps than being present at the table (we were front and center; his actions were obvious). Sure, the speech was interesting, but it was hardly breaking news to tweet.

By now, of course, it barely registers with me when someone pulls out a smartphone mid-meeting, or starts fiddling with their keyboard in the middle of a conversation. I'm as guilty as the next one of checking out from the place I'm at to check in with what's happening somewhere else.

Still, I wonder if ignoring the here and now isn't going to cost us more than the patience and good graces of a few co-workers and friends. When everything worth paying attention to is happening someplace else, what will happen to here?

Most of human history has been one of intense local connections. Not that long ago, the struggle was to understand the world outside your city limits. Today, it's just about the reverse.

Just a few generations ago, Washington, D.C., was just some sleepy far-off swamp few citizens paid much mind to - the real action was at the statehouse. Now, Barack Obama is the only politician a lot of folks could even name.

Thousands become irate enough to flood city streets whenever the G8 gets together, but local issues come and go with little comment.

Case in point - a number of Iowans were outraged by national headlines about a Virginia bill that would require women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion. Far fewer realized that lawmakers here had introduced similar legislation (it died in funnel last week).

Our local leaders do it, too, handing over local decisions to faraway consultants. There seems to be this unspoken assumption that if it comes from here, an idea can't be all that important or smart.

Of course, “local” has become a hip watchword in some circles. But that new localism is focused nearly entirely on consumption - what we eat, what we buy. Not what we do.

I remember from not all that long ago the slogan “think globally, act locally.” Maybe it's time to dust it off, to revise it. How about this:

Think locally, then act.

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net