My Experience in SW Missouri

[rustysgurl]

75. An Apology ... of sorts

I will admit my original post was partly fueled by anger, frustration and a smidge of intolerance (ok, maybe more than a smidge). I dredged up my past experiences while living in that area, tossed in some anxiety about people I know who still live there, and sprinkled in the aforementioned anger, etc. While I don't apologize for my feelings, I do apologize for some of the ways in which I expressed them.

During my time in SW Missouri, there were some folks who were (like one poster said) kind and generous. As others have said, the kindness and generosity were offered more readily to those they knew, while newcomers were looked on with suspicion and skepticism. I remember once when a lady up the road came by to invite us to attend their church. My mother was out in the garden, on her hands and knees, in t-shirt and jeans. The woman was scandalized, telling my mother that "ladies around there" wore dresses, even while working outside. She was obviously insulted when my mother thanked her for her church invitation, but that we would be attending the local Roman Catholic church (which was actually a "missionary" church with a priest saying Mass once a month). That pretty much branded us as heathens and I don't think that woman ever came to our home again.

On the other side of the coin, after my mother passed away, neighbors and people we had never met showed up at our door with casseroles, eggs (we had 17 dozen at one point) and offers to watch the house during the funeral. But like one poster shared, those kindnesses always seemed to be offered to people they "knew" or lived around, while tolerance for societal need as a whole wasn't considered.

Elections in the area were typically one-sided affairs, with many offices being "won" by Republican candidates unopposed. It's still that way today, almost 50 years later (which makes me sad). As others have said, things don't change very rapidly (if at all) down in those parts.

I can understand the poster's comment about wanting to retain friendships despite differences of opinion. However, as I said before, it seems hypocritical to me to call people friends with whom I share such opposing views. I'm not talking specific candidates, etc. But when we're discussing health and human welfare issues, there's no middle ground for me.

Bottom line, there's good and bad in every subsection of society. It's been my experience, however, that the concentration of stubbornness, intolerance, suspicion and obliviousness to the facts runs pretty deep in the Ozarks.