To say, “people in Iowa are friendly,” is an understatement.
As a West Coast kid, growing up mainly in California, Colorado and Nevada, I was never exposed to Iowa or anything east of the Rockies. Yet, when I turned 18, I moved to Dubuque, Iowa to attend the University of Dubuque. Still in Iowa some (cough-cough) years later, the attribute of Iowa I admire most is…its genuine kindness.
According to Merriam-Webster, kindness is defined as “…a sympathetic or helpful nature; gentle; of a forbearing nature; arising from or characterized by sympathy or forbearance.” During the latest political activity from 2006 to 2008, the term “Iowa Nice” was coined as the “…tendency of Iowans to be friendly and civil.” (See PolitoFact and blogger B.J. Smith)
The term, Iowa Nice, is appropriate for this land-locked State. I find this genuine kindness every day at work, the grocery store, even at a concert or local bar. My college English Professor held classes in her home. Over tea and cucumber sandwiches, we discussed poetry and prose. A colleague I befriended while living and working in Cedar Rapids would deposit every nickel, dime, quarter she had into parking meters aligning the street on our way back to the office from lunch everyday. When I questioned her about it, she simply said, it’s just the nice thing to do.
Without close relatives within reasonable weekend-driving distance, Iowa families and friends have welcomed me into their homes for dinners, holidays, graduations, and birthdays. The nights typically ended with a scratchy throat from so much laughing, a full belly and a content heart.
As a transplant, I honor the security Iowans naturally have with one another. Whether it is the entire town rallying around the high school football team, a farmer pulling your car out of the ditch after a bad ice storm, parents wearing wigs to show support for their local high school team, or neighbors cooking a feast to comfort those in need, Iowa is a place where a handshake means more than inked signatures and where a parent can leave his child to the trust of a complete stranger at the Fair while he gets ketchup (true story).
While I will never forget or forego my West Coast childhood, it is the unconditional giving, that Iowa Nice, that has kept me in the State after college graduation. It is the Iowa Nice that inspires me to do better, be better.
Originally written: December 2009
