Cooperative Living May 2018 - 4

Viewpoint | by Richard G. Johnstone Jr., Executive Editor
Vol. 72, No. 5
ISSN 1529-4579
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
Executive Editor
BILL SHERROD
Editor
LAURA EMERY
Field Editor
JANET BAILEY
Production Manager
TOMMY CAMPBELL
Design & E-Media Coordinator
AMANDA S. CUNNINGHAM
Advertising Sales
MARY HOWELL
Communications & P.R. Coordinator
NINA JACOBS
Administrative Coordinator
To contact magazine:
9 a.m.-5 p.m. M-F
Phone: (804) 346-3344
Or at any time:
Fax: (804) 346-3448
Email: bsherrod@vmdaec.com
Web: www.co-opliving.com
Published by the VA, MD & DE Association
of Electric Cooperatives
JAMES E. HUFFMAN
Chairman
HERBERT R. PATRICK
Vice Chairman
FLETCHER B. JONES
Secretary/Treasurer
RICHARD G. JOHNSTONE JR.
President & CEO
Board of Directors: R. Wayne Browning, Belvin Williamson, Jr.,
A&N; C. Michael Sandridge, Michael J. Keyser, BARC; George N.
Goin, Gary E. Wood, Central Virginia; Robert E. Arnold, Michael
I. Wheatley, Choptank; Jeannette S. Everett, Steven A. Harmon,
Community; James E. Huffman, Shawn C. Hildebrand, CraigBotetourt;
Patricia S. Dorey, J. William Andrew, Delaware;
Fletcher B. Jones, John C. Lee, Jr., Mecklenburg; Russell G.
Brown, Greg W. White, Northern Neck; Wade C. House, Stan C.
Feuerberg, Northern Virginia; Dale McNiel, Randell W. Meyers,
Powell Valley; Herbert R. Patrick, Micheal E. Malandro, Prince
George; Linda R. Gray, Kent D. Farmer, Rappahannock; Larry C.
Howdyshell, Michael W. Hastings, Shenandoah Valley; Frank W.
Bacon, Jeffrey S. Edwards, Southside.
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asked to inform the Editor.
M
ore than half a century on, it remains
a vivid memory. " Duck and cover. "
In the early weeks of my first-grade
year in Tampa, Miss Rogers was a cheerful
presence. But one day she grew serious, as she
introduced a new daily exercise. As quickly as we
could, we were to duck under our desks, knees
folded, faces down, arms covering our heads.
Each of us was also given a dog tag, stamped
with name, address and blood type. Much later
I learned its grim purpose: to provide information
to save us ... or to identify us.
Those 12 days in October 1962 had a palpable
cast over them. Of anxiety, worry, fear. Even
we first-graders could see it and sense it.
My school took precautions in case the worst
happened. The worst, of course, being a nuclear
war with the Soviet Union, during the Cuban
Missile Crisis.
Thankfully, the worst didn't happen. And
usually it doesn't.
But in this hyperbolic age, when the media
often cover weather and Wall Street with nearapocalyptic
turns of phrase, it's unsettling to
imagine how they would cover a modern-day
Cuban Missile Crisis.
Back then, " the national media " consisted of
three TV and a few radio networks, plus major
daily newspapers. Americans generally viewed
the same news at the same time in the same way.
It was a shared experience. One of its virtues
was that a critical mass of Americans shared a
common base of knowledge, and often a
common understanding of events.
That was then. This is now.
Nowadays, there are as many national media
outlets as there are stars in the firmament.
Websites. Blogs. Discussion boards. Social
media platforms. Streaming services and TV
networks for every taste and temperament.
This digital age has made more information
more accessible to more people than at any time
in history. There's a viewing option for every
worldview. What information you receive - and
how, when and where you receive it - is up to
you. Each of us is our own information czar.
But the digital age that's expanded our horizons
has also shrunken our shared experience.
With the passing of the shared fireside, so
passes the fireside chat. Instead, a thousand
2
scattered fires are tended today on a thousand
scattered hills.
In the first three verses of " The Second Coming, "
Irish poet William Butler Yeats wrote,
" Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. "
We are a diverse, dynamic, resilient people.
Our signature virtues are the envy of the world.
We're brave, generous, hard-working, patriotic.
We're constantly striving to answer that clarion
call from the Preamble to our Constitution, " to
form a more perfect union. "
But we should be properly cautious of a
widening gyre today. Cautious of the weakening
of the mainstream, and the middle. The
weakening of compromise and consensus.
Of civility and civil discourse.
Cautious of being the circling falcon, unable
to hear the falconer.
Cautious because, when the center cannot
hold ... things fall apart.
Democracy is messy, sometimes very messy.
But just as in the strongest of families, a
common core of shared values, and a shared
respect for them, is essential for success,
even survival.
As Benjamin Franklin left Independence Hall
in Philadelphia on the final day of the
Constitutional Convention in 1787, it is said
that a woman approached him and asked, " Well
doctor, what have we got, a republic or a
monarchy? " He replied simply, " A republic, if
you can keep it. "
And keep it we have, for over 230 years.
But not without tremendous bloodshed
and sacrifice, unrest and controversy, and
yes, division too. The challenging times we
are passing through are not unique. But
changing technology perhaps makes them
uniquely challenging.
Throughout our history, each generation has
had to work hard to protect, preserve and
defend the liberties, the freedoms, the
opportunities the Founding Fathers made
possible. For almost a quarter of a millennium,
the center has held.
It is our challenge today to hear the falconer.
To hold the center. To keep the republic. 
www.co-opliving.com
Hear the Falconer
The digital age has expanded our horizons. But it's also shrunken
our shared experience ... and created some challenges for our
resilient republic.
http://www.co-opliving.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living May 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living May 2018
