While waiting for my computer to reboot again, I watched the Weather Channel to see what our weather would be like today. We could use some rain, but that is beside the point.
I watched a segment on how towns in Oklahoma are underwater due to a lot of rain. There were pictures where you could only see the roofs of houses. Very sad that all those people have such huge disappointments ahead of them as they find out how many of their irreplaceable things were ruined. I wonder if the insurance companies will try to back out of paying like they did here in Florida after the hurricanes. Hope not.
They interviewed someone who said that the Heartland was strong and people always stepped up to help others. Gotta tell you, coming from the Heartland myself, that is so very true. People in the Heartland are generous and resilient. They have to be because a lot of them are farmers or other occupations that depend on the weather to cooperate with them. A bad season in the Heartland can mean an entire crop was ruined – the farmer is just out that money. There isn’t insurance for one’s crops – there is no payout.
Each person from the Heartland knows they may need someone else’s help someday so they make sure they help others. I had a contact stuck in my eye on the way home from Missouri once. I had to pull over to get it out. In the short time it took to get it out and remoisten it, I had four different cars stop to ask me if I was OK. That isn’t something you see too much in metropolitan places.
In the Heartland, strangers wave at you for no reason. Down here in Florida, if you wave at someone you don’t know they are looking around for the nearest police officer. When did people forget how to interact with each other in a pleasant and civilized manner?
I’m not saying the Heartland is perfect – it has it’s problems just like the coastal places but I think some of it is the differences in the social status of the people. All the rich, snobbish, self-important people want to live in the coastal regions – the Heartland is more for the average hard working person. The people in the Heartland who are snobbish all flock to the coastal states as soon as the weather turns chilly so we only have to put up with them five or six months out of the year.
The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back. –Abigail Van Buren
