Modernity has its place, but don’t shun the past

To the Editor:
Modernity has its place. But wasn’t it Churchill who said that “A lovefor tradition has never weakened a nation”? Do we now shun the past in itspresent? Should we marginalize those still living in a world free from wi-fi?Before usernames and password updates, before smartphone coupons and socialmedia alerts, before data was sold...the Newspaper spread the word.I ran into an old high school friend at Casey’s last week, for privacy sakewe will call him JD. I noticed he was holding a flip phone. As a lifelongfamily farmer and someone who still has a TV antenna on the top of hishouse, he said he has never had need for the internet. But then he got tenseand seemed upset and sad at the same time.On June 25 there were Enduro Races at the Dodge County Speedway. The onlything JD enjoys more than reading the DCI in front of the local news isracing. He was disgruntled by the fact that there was nothing in the DCIabout it. He went off on a tangent about “the way it used to be”. JD saidthe DCI always used to advertise the races, but now it was only on theinternet.I quickly remembered another recent conversation I had with a schoolteacherwho discussed the damaging effect that no home-internet access still has onsome students. There is a digital divide that transcends common intersectionsof identity and culture. It struck me as ironic that a 45 year old farmer, inhis own way, was struggling with this crisis of technology. I realized it wasan issue of access and equality.For the sake of journalistic integrity I must also note that the idea of a‘regional civility’ seemed to guide his grievance. He said, “Don’thold races against your neighbors.” As a racing fan he feels all the racesshould be supported and attended. If the Enduro Races are in Kasson on aSaturday then what sort of message does that send to the Deer Creek racetrack who held races the same night? JD noted that if one human being couldbe in two places at once then he could see the logic of last month’s Enduroschedule.He suggested if they didn’t have room in the DCI to promote the races thenperhaps they could remove some of the classifieds that have been hangingaround for years. So I asked JD who’s responsibility it was to promote therace, the DCI or the Enduro organizers? He said, “it should be theorganizers shouldn’t it?” Case Closed.
Terry Hawkins
Mantorville