We need C.P.R.

TOWN AND COUNTRY

By Gregory DL Morris
Columnist

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a bi-weekly series of columns expanding our local journalism concept. In our straight reporting, we have always been and will remain focused on local news, people, and issues.

Morris explains, “Many people in this area like to think of themselves and their towns in that metaphorical sense: a shining example. But are we? Is the town an example for the country? This column aspires to inquire more deeply, lauding where we live up to that and calling out where we fall short.”

We hope you will enjoy his thought-provoking columns.

Civil society in this country is dying. It needs C.P.R.: compassion, perspective, and responsibility to be resuscitated.

That is not just a contrived acronym for vague virtues. It is also an allegory. Millions of people have learned cardiopulmonary resuscitation for decades, and many have paid for training. Other courses are provided free by governments and non-profit institutions.

Why? No one makes money. Certainly no person on the street gets any reward for saving another person’s life. We do it as citizenship. We do it as part of our duty of care. We do it out of compassion.

The disparagement or outright dismissal of “others” and compassion fatigue are sadly well-known in these merciless and mercenary times. We must also be alert to obliviousness. How often have we done bad things or allowed bad things to happen, not out of malice but out of ignorance?

Which brings us to perspective. Here, I’m calling out single-issue voters as an example. Or people who willfully ignore the science of “leave your leaves” and pay endless thousands of dollars for an immaculate green lawn. Poison green. Literally. Or the feckless politicians in the state who champion “freedom” when opposing laws to ban cellphone use while driving or wink at dangerous high-speed driving. Or developers in Chapel Hill who gleefully and profitably throw up vast new housing and shopping complexes without considering public transportation.

Everyone has their reasons and everyone has their justifications. And very few take the broader perspective of how their actions affect the neighbors, the community, or the wider world.

This brings us to responsibility, which is the rarest of the trio. The obvious example is the Internet. It was supposed to be a font of knowledge and a public forum for exchanging ideas. Instead, it is a cesspool of trolls and scams because it’s all too easy to hide behind anonymity and say or do anything without having to take responsibility.

The same concept applies to parents who offload raising their children to the school system. Chapel Hill Carrboro City Schools are highly regarded, as well as they should be. However, the state of North Carolina lags badly in many educational metrics. That’s not being a city on a hill, that’s being an island.

Dropping your kids off in the Land Rover for their classes in ceramics, cello and Mandarin is great. And what does that do for the low levels of literacy, life skills, and abysmal per-student spending around the rest of the state? Those districts and parents and voters have to take responsibility. And so do we.

*Gregory DL Morris sits on the TLR board and is a regular correspondent. Morris’s opinions are his alone and do not necessarily reflect those of The Local Reporter.

Gregory DL Morris is a business journalist and historian who reports regularly for TLR.

This reporter can be reached at Info@TheLocalReporter.press