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.