Food for Thought, Winter

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

45 Comments

Lately, the country’s eyes have been on Minnesota, in particular, Minneapolis, as federal agents—2,000 of them—run rampant, terrorizing the city’s citizens.

As a Mainer, I feel a special kinship with Minnesota, even though the states are 1,100 miles apart. To begin with, Maine and Minnesota are at a similar latitude—in the mid-40s. For residents of both states, winter is a fact of life, rolling around each year after autumn’s glorious blaze and hanging on for five months. We are intimately acquainted with snow and cold. (I was born in September, and was only months old when I experienced my first winter.) Even in the summer, Mainers are thinking about winter, and I expect the same is true for folks in Minnesota.

Late January morning

 

Frost waves on the window

It seems to me that living in a state that experiences deep winter gives its residents a certain pluck and fortitude. Sure, we sometimes hunker down to keep the home fires burning, especially if the temperature dips too far below zero, but we also venture forth in the cold to go to movies and restaurants, to visit friends and family. Some hardy folks drill holes in the ice to fish. Not my idea of fun, but each to their own.

Perhaps just as important, Maine and Minnesota are also considered liberal states, sharing concerns about the climate, gay rights, and equality.

When winter pluckiness is combined with progressive politics, the results are astonishing. We see Minnesotans go forth into the extreme cold with their whistles and cell phones to defend neighbors who have been targeted — often unfairly — by federal agents. They brave tear gas and sometimes bullets. They deliver food and other necessities to those who are afraid to leave their houses. And they march in protests.

On a recent Bulwark podcast, Adam Serwer, a journalist at The Atlantic, spoke beautifully about neighborism in Minneapolis: “It doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter what gender you are. It doesn’t matter what race you are. It doesn’t matter what religion you are. You are my neighbor. I will defend you.”

Serwer’s words moved me to tears. Although I am not religious, the courage and generosity of Minnesotans strike me as the best of what Christianity embodies. No small thing when we too often see the worst of Christianity via Christian Nationlists, the intolerance, the repression.

So let us follow Minneapolis’s example. Let us open our hearts to our neighbors, no matter their race, creed, or gender.

When the porch is shoveled, please come for tea or coffee.

 

 

45 thoughts on “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

  1. I marveled at those Minnesotans protesting in that deep deep cold. They had to choose and chose to be good neighbors and to stand up for decency.

    And brrrrr. I used to live in that cold NE climate and don’t miss those temps! Stay warm, my friend.

  4. I am with you, “Let us open our hearts to our neighbors, no matter their race, creed, or gender.” Together we thrive.

    Frost makes such lovely design. You porch looks lovely. I would love to have fresh snow but our weather forecast doesn’t agree. It’s cold and dry. 😥

  5. Lovely tribute to Minnesota! I had no idea that they are THAT plucky and THAT neighborly until all of this unfolded. I’m going to try making a tator tot casserole (I think they call it a “hot dish”) in honor of MN this weekend. 😊

  6. I have neighbors whom I KNOW don’t share my politics. We don’t talk about it, but I’ve had enough clues to know they are much more conservative than I am (which is flaming Liberal!). One neighbor always puts my trash can away and does other “lifting” chores; they get my mail when I travel, two are on my emergency call list, and one offered to calk my kitchen counter! We talk about our dogs and the weather. And that’ ok. I am grateful for all of it.

  9. Yes, applause to those brave MN souls who keep coming back and showing up so no one forgets what they believe in – equality. Mr. Rogers would have been appalled at what we are now seeing every day on the news. I know I am. Hope you got shoveled out, it was a lot.

  12. In more than one way I would so like to be your neighbour all the way across the world from Down Under . . . I would try to be a good one . . .

  16. One of the things I like about living here is that helping each other is a given. Even if someone isn’t much liked they get helped. I too saw and admired those protesters and I read this morning that ICE agents are to be fitted with bodycams. I don’t suppose that it will change their behaviour much but it does show that the powers that be have been rattled a bit by the reaction.

    1. Wonderful that where you live, helping each other is a given. Bodycams are a good first step. Removing face masks would be another important step. This administration is so rotten that, in the short run, all that can be done is to push them. And then hope like heck there is a regime change in a few years.

  19. Well said Laurie! I sometimes daydream of living in a desert – nice warm, dry air and no snow or ice. I do admire the fortitude of people who live in cold states, I just don’t want to be one. 🙂

  20. Well said, Laurie. While I was teaching, a superintendent would always says in tough times, “Common sense will prevail”. Sadly, It doesn’t any longer. can you imagine how much better life would be if id did?

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