Monday, October 24, 2005

Back From The Heartland

Just got back from the great heartland of the this country, North Dakota. It was a fun trip and a fruitful one in that my brother and I had a great visit with our dad and, during the trip out there, we had a great opportunity to visit with each other.

We don't get to see each other that much, he lives in the Minneapolis area and I live in southern Wisconsin. I know that isn't that far away but when you get involved in life's little struggles, time just seems to slip away.

But you know, I found North Dakota a forgotten paradise of sight and sound, natures purest. I know everyone has seen the movie 'Fargo' and from that farce knows everything there is to know about that state. That movie was a typical Hollywood master piece of fantasy - what garbage. Why would anyone think that the Hollywood empty suits could or would produce anything of any substance when it comes to the Midwest?

Okay it's flat as flat can be but that's only one of it's qualities. Roads that stretch out in front of you clear to the horizon. Corn fields the size of Road Island and marshes by the road teaming with yellow headed black birds. Stop by the side of the road and get out, don't worry about another car coming along because it's more than likely that won't happen for at least half an hour, and listen, what do you hear? Yeah, that's right, only the sound of the wind in the rushes along the marsh and the chirping and twittering of our feathered friends busily going about God's business. Why do you think they call this God's country.

The people are fantastic too. True, they are few and far between but that's what makes them so genuine. They are all neighbors that care about each other, they know who everybody is. They wave at you like you like you belong.

So come here and look around, test the water - maybe you can make a connection with a past life of hard work and pride of survival, not just an existence.

Chances are you won't stay, of course, but just the view of a sun set that goes from as far as the eye can see and the sounds of a power greater than you is such a sensory overload that it makes every second spent here, away from the crush of the city, a gift.

It's my third trip and it only gets better.

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