During the mid-term election, I occasionally saw on TV, commercials of some state candidates, regardless of their political persuasions, touting "Hoosier Values", with special emphasis on their "gun-toting" tradition. Exactly how the Hoosier values were different from the 'values' held by people from any other states was not clear to me. However, there is something about the Hoosiers, or at least the Hoosiers we've come across, which stands out in our impressions and that is their kindness to strangers, a kindness which is trusting and unsuspecting, almost naive. Some of you may protest by saying that kindness knows no states boundaries and after all we've only lived in three states so far, California, Florida, and now Indiana. Well, I can only say that we derive our impression based on personal experiences and I will relate a couple here.
On Kirk's first visit to IU, flying into the Indianapolis Airport, which, by the way, is a gem of a small to mid size airport, unsure of where to go to pick up his rental car, he was standing around and looking somewhat puzzled. A guy walking by stopped and asked Kirk if he could be of any help and upon learning that he was lost, pointed out to him where to go. Kirk was pleasantly surprised by the kindness shown him, especially in a place where one least expects to receive random kindness from total strangers. Similar incidents have occurred to us several times since then, at street corners, at farmers' market, and so on.
In early September, on a late Saturday afternoon, the day before our "Beginning of the Term" as well as our house-warming party, at which we were expecting over fifty people, we went to Lowe's to get some parts for a ceiling fan. While there, we saw some end-of-the-season outdoor furniture on sale for 50% off. A sales person approached us and showed us a set of wrought-iron furniture, a 48" round table and four chairs, at a great price. We were very tempted as we did not have any outdoor furniture at that time and we thought having something for people to gather around would definitely help draw the guests outside more. We have an incredible backyard, with a large redwood deck and several terraces, which is a perfect setting for late summer evening parties. We decided to buy the set but realized shortly after that we would not be able to transport it home in our car. After asking us where we lived, the sales person offered to deliver the furniture to us; she said that she had a Trailblazer which the furniture box would fit in and as she had to go by High Street, which is actually on the other side of town from Lowe's, to run an errand anyway, she would be happy to bring it to us. She also said that she got off in about 30 minutes. We were elated and couldn't believe that someone would offer such kindness to total strangers. We loaded the furniture box into her 'truck' and went home to wait for her, without any misgiving. Sure enough, in about half an hour, an SUV pulled into our driveway and this hearty woman unloaded the furniture for us!
Another example of the friendliness and helpfulness of the Hoosiers has to do with the postal carrier in our neighborhood. I met Darlene during the first week after we moved to our new house. She is a jolly and talkative person. Seeing that I was wearing my running duds, she proceeded to tell me about how she kept fit by drinking a certain protein shake for lunch and also that she would stop on her beat at certain place to do push-ups on the sidewalk everyday. She looks very trim and healthy. She gave me a couple packets of the protein shake to try and said that she would tell me more about it if I liked them. It turns out that she is a distributor of the product on the side and can probably claim several clients from the homes she delivers mails to. I was sold on the product, partly by her friendliness, but mainly because I don't want the hassles of having to fix myself something to eat for lunch. Anyway, I have been having protein shakes for lunch everyday; even when it's freezing outside I'll be drinking my shake and shivering at the same time. But, wait, the story doesn't end here. Not too long ago, I was asked by two future colleagues of Kirk's to help renovate a house they were in the process of buying in anticipation of their coming move to Bloomington. Their house is also located in the area south of campus, not too far from ours. On seeing the postal carrier walking past her house, she said to me, something like "Oh, there goes Darlene, the 'duenna' of the neighborhood. I'd better go say hi." She told me that she has stored several pieces of furniture at Darlene's from their previous year's stay in Bloomington. The take-aways of the story for me are that 1) people here are very willing to lend a hand to help others and 2) Bloomington is a very tight-knit little community where everybody knows everybody else.
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