Opinion & Editorial

You’re not from here, are you?’

What does it mean to be from here?
Sure, “local” can be defined in terms of geography. “I was born here and I’ll die here.” It’s a valid philosophy, and ultimately just a subcategory of the larger population. A splice of the data, if you will.
A more complete and accurate definition of “local” comes from those intangibles that define us.
Shared values, and shared experiences.
A sense of belonging. An appreciation for the history and legacy. A love for your neighbor. Lots of sweat equity, enriching the soil and helping solidify the foundation of the community. It’s familiar people, who you’ve shared things like school, church, shopping, weddings, funerals, births, crying, cheering, booing, complaining, volunteering and a million other things.
For many in the southern Willamette Valley, the dirt is in your DNA, whether it’s from the dusty railroad tracks or rich soil that earned us the Fruit Lands label.
We were all newcomers at one point, the early patriots in the northeast and the western pioneers.
The folks I’ve met in and around Creswell sure have made me feel “local.” I’ve heard from many veterans who have traveled the country, and the world for that matter, and “ended up in Creswell.”
“I’m really from Dexter, just east of Pleasant Hill.”
“Well, originally, I’m from North Dakota.”
“I grew up near Corvallis, but settled in Creswell.”
“I was born in California, but we had relatives up this way.”
And 30 or 40 years later, they’re as local as a Douglas fir.
No matter how we all found our way to Creswell – and found our way to each other as friends and neighbors – we’re a local community bound together with shared values and experiences. I like that definition of “local.”

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