Dakota Beacon

I have known for a long time that North Dakotans are, in general, a hard working people; that fact being confirmed by people I’ve met and worked with from all over the western United States during my career as a civil engineer.

“Are you a North Dakota resident? I need your help! I need your signature on this measure to eliminate property taxes in North Dakota. It’s a “no-brainer”, really.”

As I repeated my plea for signatures over and over again at the state fair in Minot, I learned more about the human nature of North Dakotans than I ever expected. But first, a little background information to place it all in perspective.

The Road Less Traveled

A book I recently read titled “The Road Less Traveled” left an indelible message imprinted in my mind, an “equation of life” if you will, a particularly relevant and personal message for me, considering my training in mathematics:

Love = Work + Courage

Courage

The dictionary calls it “The quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger with confidence, resolution, and firm control of oneself; bravery; valor.”

Courage is something I embraced early in life. Faced with being in a wheelchair for two to seven years at age seven in order to heal crumbled hip joints, I prayed often for God’s healing grace and was extremely careful not to put any weight on my hips…just as the doctor had seriously warned me. After about twenty-one months, the x-rays revealed complete healing and I learned to walk all over again. The pain of atrophied muscles trying to extend to meet the resumed forces of walking upright was excruciating. I will forever remember the loving hands of my mother as she kneaded my calves every evening for months to soothe the pain. And I will also remember the two home and hospital teachers that were probably instrumental in my fifth grade decision to become a civil engineer.

Once, as I sat in my wheelchair at my aunt Esther’s home, a kind man that I did not know placed a dollar bill into my hand, seeing he could do nothing else; I will remember that single act of kindness forever, as well. The man with the dollar must have been very courageous; he risked a negative reaction for the reward of my returned smile.

On the other side of the equation, a set of twins about my age tipped me over in my wheelchair…I never felt any anger, just embarrassment that I couldn’t fight back.

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the taking of action in spite of fear, the moving out against the resistance engendered by fear into the unknown and into the future. On some level spiritual growth, and therefore love, always requires courage and involves risk. Most people have a problem, whether they are young or old, in facing the reality of death squarely and clearly. If we can learn to live with the knowledge that death is our constant companion, then death can become our ally, still fearsome but continually a source of wise counsel. With death’s counsel, the constant awareness of the limit of our time to live and love, we can be guided to make the best of our time and live life to the fullest. When we shy away from death, the ever-changing nature of things, we inevitably shy away from life.

Educators cannot eliminate risks inherent in life but they can support and teach the courage that is necessary for spiritual growth. Such education is sorely lacking in our North Dakota K-12 education system, which is essentially the reason so many North Dakotans fear the future. Dependence on government destroys the courage to “succeed”.

Back to the State Fair; the Good…

The most memorable event at the Fair came from a middle aged lady that I noticed in my periphery staring at me intently with her husband looking on, as I discussed the benefits of eliminating all property taxes in North Dakota with another person. She waited politely until I was done, then very directly walked to the center of my table, placed her hands on her hips, squared up with me, and looked me right in the eyeballs, and proceeded to tell me exactly what she believed was wrong with the measure I was promoting. She did so with such directness that I was distracted from her words due to her ferocity in overcoming her nervousness in confronting me. At the conclusion of her pointed words, she couldn’t help but smile at me with a smile so genuine I almost melted away. I smiled back at her and said, continuing to smile at her, “I’ll bet you’re glad to have gotten that off your chest?” at which her husband smiled broadly at me. She was so relieved that I did not strike back with an angry rebuttal that she just politely walked back to her husband, learning that I was at the fair to educate, not to confront. This was the most courageous act I experienced in the nine days at the fair; the lady was obviously not very experienced in the act of speaking her mind in public but she looked the tiger in the eye and spit in its face!

The Bad and the Ugly…

At the other end of the spectrum are the few dozen folks that laughed at me, saying “Yeah, like THAT is ever going to happen!” These are who I call the “dream killers”. You’ve encountered them before; they ridicule everything others bring up, but have never had an original idea themselves.

A few people actually tried to disrupt my attempts at soliciting signatures. I used my street smarts in dealing with these few self-appointed bullies. One was rather portly and insisted on parking his huge carcass right in front of my table to prevent others from talking with me. I got up, walked away from my booth, and motioned for him to join me away from the traffic…he refused to move…so I did the only thing I could to get him to move, I called him outside, walking toward the nearby door. He began to walk out with me but decided about ten feet from the door that he didn’t want whatever I had planned for him on the other side of the door. I continued outside inviting him to join me to no avail. Mission accomplished! He was away from the booth.

A rather tall man with a long belt-length pony tail inserted himself between two people signing our petition, yelling that our measure was the foulest something or other he had ever heard of. I looked him in the eye and said “Why don’t you go over to the liberal booth where you belong, you hippy!” His response was that he made a lot more money than me. I just watched him walk away in utter amazement…since when did the “amount of money” one makes have anything to do with “success” in life?

Perhaps the worst for me to stomach were the very well dressed and extremely snooty employees of government that fully realize that we fiscal conservatives stand between them and their lucrative “on-the-job retirement” programs such as may be found in K-12 administration and higher education. They were openly disgusted with my lack of reverence for their coveted positions in their societal hierarchy. They refused to enter into the dialogue, knowing full well that the light of day is more than their “education oligarchy” can endure.

And The HEAT! My God! The HEAT…

The words of Elaine Bennis describing “hell” in a Seinfeld episode are emblematic of the fear felt by many North Dakotans toward anything remotely unfamiliar. The unexpected revelation for me during my time at the state fair was the full and complete realization that a fairly large number of North Dakotans are essentially DRIVEN by fear. The thought of a change as large as the elimination of an entire taxing venue is, to many of them, just unacceptable to even contemplate…

The Three-legged Stool

Some folks did not differentiate between me and the carnival hucksters on the midway outside, pretending that I did not exist. Others refused to take my printed material, but subsequently expected me to fully hear them out as they spouted liberal talking points like the “three-legged stool”. I explained that, since they refused to read my printed words, I did not feel obligated to listen to their diatribe. The photo and commentary on the following page are a direct result of my boredom with the three-legged stool metaphor.

Local Property Tax         Death Tax               Income Tax

The Three-legged “Stool”

 

(ACTUAL PHOTO OF DONKEY EXCREMENT)