Fargo a true example of community

I want to make sure we recognize the people of Fargo, N.D., in their battle against flood waters from the Red River. If you didn’t notice, people lined up in 9-degree weather to fill sandbags to raise the level of their protective dikes when record rising water threatened the city and surrounding neighborhoods. The reason you might not have noticed is that this really wasn’t a news event. It was a human interest story and did not get that much press, which is a shame.

What struck me is that these people did not complain about lack of government help, or why the dikes were a few feet short of the projected record flood levels. They just all got together as a community and solved the problem the best way they knew how. I was particularly struck by the neighbors that got together in small groups to work together and sandbag their homes in a protective circle, even the ones emptied by fleeing neighbors that didn’t participate in the work. That is the true meaning of community and responsibility to our neighbor.

How much easier would it have been to stand up on national TV and tell the world that their local officials had screwed the deal up by not having the dikes built high enough to anticipate a 112-year flood level, or why the federal government had not prepared for this disaster? Instead, the people of Fargo took care of the problem and each other in a very personal and responsible way, quite at odds with the practice of being a professional “victim.” I certainly don’t discount there are victims of many disasters, but want to highlight the different response from Fargo.

I dare say that if the Red River does spill over its banks and demolish Fargo, it will be rebuilt and we won’t hear much about it, because the local community will take care of it as a dedicated group of hard working and responsible people. I would also bet there won’t be blame assigned, crooked contractors salivating over government rebuilding contracts or public officials using this disaster for personal gain.

Cole Scrogham

New Hope