OPINION: True then and true today: Small is beautiful

As the larger world appears to spin out of the control of us humans, we can turn our focus to ensuring that our regional environment remains within our expectations and grasp. This means taking responsibility for what is happening to us in our homes and towns.

Yes, we can vote and take action on global and national issues, and we should. Do that, but then act on what is happening in our backyards where we can make an impact and see the results.

Small is beautiful. In our area, we know the people we see at the supermarket, the clerk at the pharmacy, the plumber working on our sink and our kid’s teacher. We live here because we enjoy those connections and value the relationships that build over time. Those relationships develop into groups that enhance our lives, whether at church socials, softball teams, community cleanups or outdoor barbecues.

We can count on those friendships to borrow a Rototiller, to take walks, to bring dinners when we’re sick or to take us to the airport for the 5 a.m. flight to Seattle. The human fabric of our local society is woven from such connections. It’s how those hard of hearing learn to use the Live Listen function on their smartphones, how those who are automobile-challenged find someone to open a frozen car door and those who should not be on a ladder find someone to clean their rain gutters.

Those friendships also help us to find good fishing for steelhead, the sweet spots for morel mushrooms and the location for the best bread on the Palouse — although you’ll probably need time-tested friendships to get directions for the first two.

To build our community from family to good neighbors and from friends to happy gatherings, we need to act. It means asking our representatives to local, state and regional bodies to act for the future; to represent our children and grandchildren as well as ourselves; to govern in their councils for all of us and for all time; to be responsible to our needs; to be both farsighted and close to home and to be wise about what keeps us connected.

We need safety to lead our lives without looking over our shoulders. That means having rules that allow us to predict what others will do, whether it be stopping for pedestrians or respecting differences. It means that our politicians fund the training and support that ensure that police and other professionals can “serve and protect” us.

We need education for children that provides the foundation to build the future — theirs and ours — and to provide the knowledge of our civic society and governance that is central to a viable community. In high school, that includes the history of our community and our state. Schools not only help children learn, they also bring together the parents in a common endeavor that strengthens public good.

We want to be healthy and to be cared for when we get sick or hurt. We want to be healthy because we have good water to drink, clean air to breathe and safe food to eat. Our local representatives can work to ensure those essentials, whether by building and protecting our water supply, by reducing pollution in the air and the soil or by supporting nearby food sources. If we get sick, it is our local community that sends the ambulances, maintains the clinics and trains the medical staff. We elect our representatives to ensure that public health functions for everyone.

Small is beautiful. Nationally, shopping malls and box stores have waxed and then waned. The Amazon revolution has made big-box stores into big dinosaurs. Locally owned businesses thrive like the small mammals among the dinosaurs; they are knowledgeable and nimble. When you buy local, you are supporting your neighbor’s livelihood, the accountants and lawyers they use to run their business, the taxes they pay for schools and police, and the local knowledge of longtime staff. We need the jobs that are provided by our local economy that work best if they are predictable and collaborative.

More and more people are fleeing the traffic jams, pollution, noise and impersonal existence of the large coastal cities for small towns such as ours on the Palouse and the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. Let us welcome the newcomers and then show them how to build our community. Enjoy our easy traffic (relatively), clear air, quiet nights and friendly sidewalk greetings that people in the past have provided for us and we can maintain for future generations.

Note: Credit for the major promotion of the concept of small is beautiful goes to E.F. Schumacher whose book, “Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered” was published in 1973 by Harper & Row.

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Nelson lives in Moscow where he volunteers for the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre and supports libraries.