Senate Journal: Page 78: Friday, January 17, 2003
On this wonderful tour of the world within Iowa, I relearned the power of the arts
to teach and inspire us in ways that nothing else can. And I rediscovered that, despite
all the differences in our backgrounds and traditions, there are common values that
unite us.
One of those Iowa values is our spirit of community, of neighbor helping neighbor,
of reaching out to those in need.
Four years ago in my inaugural speech, I pledged to honor that spirit by
volunteering once a week, somewhere in Iowa.
And week after week, whether for an hour or an afternoon, this has been one of the
most rewarding, inspiring, and encouraging experiences of my life. I have had the
opportunity to work side-by-side with hundreds of Iowans-young and old-in
communities large and small as we have tried to make Iowa a better place to work and
live.
Of the hundreds of projects on which I worked, some stand out-like the Saturday
spent clearing brush in the Loess Hills near Council Bluffs, or the afternoon leading a
sing-along at the nursing home in Ames, or helping blind students with the band saw
in the industrial arts class at the Iowa Braille and Sight-Saving School, or serving a
meal at a domestic violence shelter in rural Iowa, or interviewing a young student
looking for a match at the Big Brother Big Sisters program in Sioux City.
But perhaps the experience that stands out most in my mind is the day that I
helped with craft projects at the day center for dependent adults in Cedar Falls.
In one of those mysterious incidents that touch us in a special way, I found myself
face-to-face with a woman in her late thirties or early forties whom I had known as a
child. She was the daughter of my high school principal, and she had a mental
disability. As a teenager growing up in Vinton, I was her baby-sitter.
Life is a circle, and somehow, in that moment, I understood how everything about
my life had prepared me in some small way for my current responsibilities.
Governor Vilsack said in his inaugural address four years ago, "Iowa is great,
because Iowa is good."
I have seen that goodness in our citizens and in the shared experience of helping
others. It has confirmed my belief in the importance of honoring volunteerism, and in
fostering public-private partnerships to make our communities better and stronger.
There is so much to do. While we know that government can do a lot, government
cannot do it alone.
And here in Iowa it doesn’t have to, because all across our state there are good
people making a difference in the world by making a difference in their own
communities and neighborhoods.
I have met hundreds of people who have moved to Iowa from other states or
countries, or who left Iowa at one time and have now returned. And when I ask them
why they want to live in Iowa, they all say something that can be boiled down to the
words: "quality of life."
© 2003 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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