COLUMN: Bring It On

By Tobin Barnes
It’s been raining forty days and forty nights.

Or anyway, seems like it. Yeah, almost Biblical.

Some around here could have used an ark lately. Soon as it starts raining toads, we’ll know the end is near. Amen.

Course, we needed the rain.

Badly.

Been parching through seven-eight years of drought. Even the yuccas were dying.

Now it’s all over. Like big time. Like, there goes a whale.

Up here in SoDak, we never get enough of anything. It’s always too much or too little.

We’re blessed that way.

Almost happy about it. We know it builds character. And we love character.

We get down on our knees every night and pray for adversity so we might learn to become better people.

It works. Our prayers are always answered. Hallelujah!

Live a cream puff life, you turn into a cream puff. Little trouble comes along, puff, there you go. Can’t hack it.

Live a hard scrabble life, you turn into hard scrabble. Become like gravel. Little trouble comes along, heck, it’s just a little more trouble.

Been there, done that.

While other parts of the nation worry that the country’s slipping into a recession, SoDakers rest easy. No sweat.

“What, me worry?”

Yeah, we’re like Alfred E. Neuman that way. And just as goofy when you think about it.

Heck, we’re always in a recession compared to everybody else. Used to it. Take it for granted. Oooo, almost feels good, you know?

So when others experience an economic downturn, we just welcome them to the neighborhood. Come on up here on the porch, buddy. Let’s discuss it. Cry about it maybe.

We know their pain.

Feel the burn, we say. We know they’ll be better people for it. With a little adversity, might return to their down-home values.

Be more like us. We think we never left them.

Dealing with adversity, you just gotta have down-home values.

Then, sooner or later, when those other parts of the country recover and have prosperity again, we stay right there in our recession. Don’t budge.

But that’s okay. We’re used to it. Almost happy about it.

We take satisfaction knowing those prosperous parts will lose some character without all that economic adversity.

On the other hand, shoot! We’ve got character in spades. (Characters, too.)

Gotta admit, though. Doesn’t seem to bother those other parts of the country. They seem content with their prosperity when they get it.

Just don’t know what they’re missing, I guess.

Whoops.

Looks like it’s going to rain again.

Certainly don’t need it, but we’re going to get it.

Always too much or too little around here. Never enough.

That’s okay. We’re used to it.