My mom sent me an email about a month ago… and………. it was not… good to get… seriously… this is the stuff that is sent to other people… I emiled back… and said — interesting take Mom. really saying nothing more.. it was frustrating to me — because… it was my mom…
—– Original Message —-
From: My Mom…
To: Laura Bestler-Wilcox <bestlerwilcox@yahoo.com>
Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:17:12 AM
Subject: Fw: A reader from the Wolverine State [Michigan] wonders:
A reader from the Wolverine State [Michigan] wonders:
Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal government hasn’t solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and trailers) are?
Why isn’t the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in Chicago?
When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in Des Moines?
Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?
Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen television sets?
When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a “vanilla” Iowa, because that’s the way God wants it?
Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of cannibalism?
Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?
How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again?
Response—
Why? Because Iowans are resilient. Because Iowans will not wallow in self-pity nor embrace victimhood. Because Iowans will roll up their sleeves and get to the heart-wrenching and back-breaking work of digging out and moving forward. Because Iowans are not looking for someone else to solve their problems.
Because although Iowans may be amused, bemused, and irritated by the goings-on in Hollywood and Washington, they recognize that neither is a real place inhabited by real people doing real work–Iowa is all three.
Because Iowa is bordered by the east coast and by the west coast of the Missouri River and on the west coast of the Mississippi–making it an entertainment and political backwater to those in Hollywood and Washington.
Oh, Iowans will gratefully accept some dollars from here and some dollars from there, but they will not wait for those token donations to move on with their lives. Because although Iowans may argue passionately among themselves about the Hawkeyes and Cyclones and Panthers and Bulldogs–in times of tragedy, trouble, devastation, and destruction every Iowan readily stretches forth his hands to assist and support his neighbors.
‘Is this Heaven? No this is Iowa.’ Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in “Field of Dreams.”
Jack L. Butler