God bless the Midwest

I just watched the most hilarious interview on Fox News. They were talking about the flooding in the Midwest and interviewing an older man who owns a building on the river in Burlington. (This is about 45 minutes from where I grew up.) I felt a bit uncomfortable for the reporter, who was clearly trying to get the man to whine and moan about how awful this was and how they all needed help. But this man was not taking the bait at all.

While this guy is no doubt a bit optimistic, slightly kooky, and definitely minimizes the amount of damage, I have to say that I admire his attitude:

When New Orleans flooded and homes were damaged (and, yes, I realize that was a bit different in that it was a hurricane and came more suddenly...), it was like people were absolutely oblivious to the fact that they chose to live near water.

The Midwest's attitude is that they'll deal with it, they'll clean it up together, and it will all look really nice until it floods again in two decades or so. You don't hear any of them complaining about how the Corps of Engineers screwed up their levees or that no one in the country is helping them out. While I certainly wish they weren't in this situation (and remember quite well the Flood of '93), it is refreshing to see people who realize that this is just something that happened that is no one else's fault and that they'll get through it by banding together.