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Finally Roxana Saben has been released from an Iranian prison and returned home among much publicity.  I’m not sure what all the politics were that were involved in this, but I’m glad she’s not any longer in danger in an Islamic rogue state.

Are all Islamic states rogue?  Decidedly not: Egypt and Jordan are two that, to me, clearly aren’t.  I will not dispute thta the Islamioc Republic of Iran is.  But I think it helpful to realize how they got that way.

In World War II, Iran was sympathetic to the Axis powers, as wee most of the middle east countries.  However, they had oil that the Russians wanted,and we wanted  them to have.  Further, we didn’t want the Axis, particular the Germans, to have it.  What to do such a situation?  Why, occupy them of course and support an oppressive regime, in this case that of Shah Pahlvi, to keep the people in line.  It is not clear to me why humankind and the Western posers, in particular the US, have never realized that doing so has its consequences.  Eventually, the people revolted, threw out the Shah and became an Islamic republic, which, for very understandable reasons, was anti-American, anti-Russian and, for reasons not as clear, anti-Israeli.

As a general rule, I am not as sympathetic with victims that intentionally put themselves in harms way as I am with others.  For example, when people follow hooligan teenagers instead of calling the police and just leaving them alone, then if they are harmed by the hooligans, they have contributed to their own harm.  Now, I am not saying that Roxana should have not visited Iran: she likely had good reason to do so.  And I don’t think she was a spy.  Not because she couldn’t have been, but because I don’t see what she could have contributed to our intelligence on Iran.  As a sidelight, missionaries and peace corps workers are very suspect when it comes to the espionage game.  But she did, once in Iran, visit Israel.  Rogue nation or not, the middle eastern Islamic nations, except for Egypt and Jordan, take a dim view of people entering, or re-entering, their country with an Israeli visa in their passport.  Often, they don’t survive the experience.

So we are all glad that Roxana made it home safely.  It could have been a lot worse

Not long ago I was visiting Rochester, MN, when I heard on the local news that the Red River of the North had fallen below flood stage.  This event probably made national news.  In each case I’m sure the community of people in the Fargo-Moorhead were deservedly lauded for their spirit, work ethic, etc.  The only question I have, is what really did happen?  Why are we consistently able to dodge bullets when many others cannot.

I’m a little less than convinced that we have a stronger work ethic in this area than others.  It may appear than way since there are so few decent paying jobs in the area, so most jobs go to those with strong work ethic.  The car wash worker in Fargo would probably have a much better job in Chicago, say, giving the appearance our lower paying service jobs are filled by people with stronger work ethic than those in Chicago.

We also have three institutions of higher learning in the area, giving us a large force of willing sandbaggers.

One thing I think we do have going for us in fargo is the lack of willingness to wait for someone else to solve our problems for us.  Perhaps our devastating winters have something to do with that.  Nothing teaches us better that we will have to take the consequences of our actions, or lack thereof, than a North Dakota blizzard.  Who can forget the thousands of people in New Orleans huddled on the frreeways waiting for someone to help them during Katrina.  The situation is different, but I bet if that were 94 in Fargo Moorhead, that’s not what we would have done.  It is perhaps notable that New Orleans has huge pockets of poverty depending on government assistance while the government of North Dakota could hardly be called socialist.  Yes, I know, the governments, but according to Mayor Wallaker, the federal government had advised him to evacuate.. He refused, and we won.

It should not be lost on anyone that perhaps we’ve become far to good at this.  Winnipeg, Grand Forks and Wahpeton all have far less flood concerns after huge infusions of federal cash to give them flood protection after cataclysmatic floods.  It certainly is not lost on the North Dakota congressional delegation.  Let’s hiope they can get someone’s attention before we have a similar disaster.

Finally, plaudits to Dennis Wallaker, who was instrumental in both recent flood fights.  In fact, since he need protection by armed guards during the flood of 97 to protect him from those that threatened his life due to some of his decisions to not protect some areas, maybe we’re not as cohesive bunch as has been portrayed.

So, is there a point or lesson in all this?   A couple, I think. Work ethic or no, we understand that the best way to ensure our destiny is to do what we can to control it ourselves.  And I think there is an element of “North Dakota Nice” in all this: most, but not all, cooperated with the authorities it closing their businesses, staying out of town if we did not have business there, even if we couldn’t physically help.