Minnesota 1973 ~ Peace On Earth

 

Travel back in TIME magazines story about a place called Minnesota. A heart warming look at a state that had a quality of life unequaled to any other...all the way up to the end of the 1990's. A state that combined a most interesting and caring mix of people, that all connected to a Minnesota Best kept Secret.

I still meet people who have never left the city of Saint Paul to travel to Minneapolis and those that have never felt the desire to take a hop, skip and jump over to Saint Paul.

Yet, there were plenty of people that traveled to both cities daily. I couldn't fathom not visiting both cities when first arriving to Minnesota and it was a most amazing time.

You see, I arrived at a time when the social fabric was at its strongest, still getting stronger through initiatives that were meant to help each individual grow and foster the notion of 'we.' We contribute to the foundation of our state.

I liked that notion. I liked that my tax dollars were being used wisely and truthfully everyday. I liked the notion that each individual was a part of something bigger, all together, in the state of Minnesota.

I liked that people were only an arms length away from receiving help when hitting on hard times. The bounce back was much quicker for many. Especially compared to this millennium. The bounce back to economic stability was assuredly one maybe two bounces back then.

Doing our part for the betterment of the entire state citizenry and for the quality of our whole landscape. The one thing that I could always count on, no matter what, there were a lot of people that cared about other peoples personal welfare - with no judgment cast - no fingers pointed. That felt good. Knowing that any person, at any time, would have many, many, many people that cared about what happens to them.

I have been privileged and honored to meet some of the advocate and activist pioneer's of that time. As modest as those pioneer's are, they really don't think they did anything that great. But they did. They created this place of people first, that many of us were lucky enough to witness.

They made people like me want to carry their message forward......People first, Peace always Only in Minnesota!

Take a journey with TIME AMERICAN SCENE/COVER STORY

Monday, Aug. 13, 1973 Minnesota: A State That Works

2007....

MNpublius.com Strib: Pawlenty attempting to Cheapskate State’s way to Greatness Jun 14th, 2007 "Actually, this page preferred the old formula: Minnesota as a commonwealth, a place where nearly everyone swam or sank together."

Where the jobs are, and aren't By Joel Kramer MinnPost "Do you have an example of how numbers can inform us about life in Minnesota or the nation? Or an example of how numbers are being used to misinform us? Email us at numbers [at] minnpost [dot] com;"

It's a job trying to get unemployment pay By RANDY FURST / StarTribune startribune.com from MSNBC Sun., Dec. 23, 2007

Ugly Government In-Action ~ In Minnesota...bumping up... Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Minnesota Unemployment Insurance SYSTEM is a Disaster OR We have a New Obstructionist Tool that Works Perfectly Saturday, November 17, 2007