Sunday, January 18, 2009

Know thy neighbor

I just read this on another website, and I think it is really true:

By eminent American essayist & Kentucky farmer, Wendell Berry, from the chapter, "The Work of Local Culture," in the 1990 compilation, "What Are People For":

"As local community decays along with local economy, a vast amnesia settles over the countryside. As the exposed and disregarded soil departs with the rains, so local knowledge and local memory move away to the cities or are forgotten under the influence of homogenized salestalk, entertainment, and education. ...Nevertheles, local culture has a value, and part of its value is economic. For example, when a community loses its memory, its members no longer know one another...have never learned one another's stories... People who do not know each other's stories do not trust one another...do not help one another...."

So, know your neighbor and eat locally produced foods. I also think this is true for all places in the world, not just the US.

2 comments:

PP said...

you should look up Barry and read him I think you would like him.

Also totally agree with this quote except for the idea of knowledge moving to the cities...there is none there either

LS said...

I think one good thing with the internet is that knowledge is spread around more, to cities, to countryside, to other countries. It isn't filtered through a newspaper or TV news editor in the same way. This particular quote I found under a photo on Flickr. I would never have heard about this Barry guy if it hadn't been for the internet.