The Salad Days

Minnesota nice is our version of southern hospitality. One person described it this way to my wife before we moved here-"They won't bring you casseroles when you move in, but if your house burns down they will be there the next day to help you rebuild."

I thought of this as I heard about all the joggers along the Mississippi River helping dozens of people to safety yesterday. While other citys' heroics are front page news, the bravery of these residents of Minneapolis is not what I see in the headlines.

It is the unassuming decency of the people that gives this place its soul. I'm still a Calvinist in the end, so I affirm the depravity of man. But there is such a simple human dignity to this place that seeks not its own.

We can only mourn with those who have lost so much.

I only wish this fine city could be in the headlines of the NY and LA Times for other reasons.