I come from a staunch and sturdy line of Swedes, Germans, and Scots, and none of them ever seemed to need propping, at least as far as I can tell. And here in Minnesota, there are a lot of people like this.

In this state, a lot of us are pretty repressed; we call it Minnesota Nice, but what it basically means is that if someone is a real jerk, we’ll mostly smile and say “that’s different”, and go on about our business. It also means that we value action more than words, and we tend to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, no matter the circumstances. 

We look up to people like Bud Grant, who are basically silent. Through eighteen seasons as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, he kept the emotion inside without much showing on the face, and we admire this. It speaks of strength, and courage, and someone you can count on when the wind chill is 40 degrees below zero, and the driveway needs shoveling. This is no small thing.

But ...

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