Friday, January 23, 2004

Local plan can satisfy needs of community

by Richard Flyer

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. challenged us to create a “Beloved Community” in which love and brotherhood were as important as our bank balances. While some take his life message only at a personal level, his enduring legacy is his call for a new American “revolution of values” to shift from a “thing-oriented” to a “person-oriented” society. Some might say that this lofty idea is a fantasy, but as Dr. King put it, society must choose between “chaos or community.”

The truth is that Americans hunger for community. According to a study by the Merck Family Fund, the majority of Americans (more than 80 percent) feel our lifestyle is not aligned with our interior values. Materialism, greed and selfishness seem to increasingly dominate American life and crowd out the traditions and moral values of our society rooted in personal responsibility, family and community. While most of us hope to achieve financial security, according to the study, our deepest aspirations are non-material ones.

The chaos of Sept. 11, 2001, has awakened the underlying tension revealed by the study. Today, our choice is truly “chaos or community.”

Fortunately, for the past 40 years, tens of millions (19 percent) of pioneering Americans have been consciously taking personal responsibility for achieving their goals while finding a balance between the material and non-material aspects of life. Whether it is concern about health and healing, wellness, environmental protection, healthy diets, world peace, civic activism and voluntarism, or personal growth, the possibility of a convergence of these trends is at hand.

A new movement is afoot in the Truckee Meadows. The Truckee Meadows Conscious Business and Community Network is a values-based movement that unites locally owned independent businesses, organizations and community members all working purposefully to realize the dream of an inclusive community. This network of your friends and neighbors, initiated only a few months ago, has already attracted the support of hundreds of Northern Nevadans who are donating thousands of hours to create a new community focus in the Truckee Meadows.

We work to build the community that we want and not whine or complain about the one that we are in. We promote traditional values centered in personal responsibility while strengthening family, friendships, community and the local economy. We are part of a global movement of towns and cities, with 30 such networks in the U.S. alone, working to keep more money in our own community by shopping at locally owned businesses as much as feasible.

Think globally — shop locally. When residents and business owners buy goods and services locally, there are community and economic benefits for all of us. Small business continues to be the engine for economic growth. Local business creates more than three times the local economic benefit of chain stores by increasing the “economic multiplier effect” — dollars circulate more. Let's practice “love your neighbor” by shopping locally and supporting the business owners who are our neighbors.

Small changes in daily behavior, such as spending money locally, becoming acquainted with neighbors and fellow small businesses, or simply practicing compassion more often can lead to dramatic improvements in our quality of life, especially when these actions are done as part of a community wide effort.

The power to change. The power to change our lives comes from within us and not outside. We can start right where we live. Each day presents opportunities to practice love in action. We can work locally, knowing that we are part of a larger global awakening. Working together with loving kindness, we can build a Beloved Community right here in the Truckee Meadows. As Dr. King said, “now let us begin … let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.”

Richard Flyer is a business owner and a convener of the Community Network. Call 826-2084 for more information.

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