SIMPLE

I saw this editorial response from a reader and liked it. I don't know who is Bly.

Bly or Blyth?

I grew up in Madison, Minnesota. My school bus downshifted on the gravel road right in front of Robert Bly's familial home everyday for nearly twelve years. That area is my home and my people. I know them and I miss them. And far from what you imagine, they have plently of 'intellectual musings'. Far more than any genius found at Harvard or Princeton. Most of those folks don't need to contemplate anything any further than the end of their own grass and the gravel-covered driveway. They 'get' life. They just understand it without having to go to the farthest ends of the Earth looking for some way to explain it all. They just know it because they just do. Just because Bly didn't fit in isn't the fault of anyone out there. Those pointy headed intellectuals who feel they think 'differently' delude themselves into thinking they are the bright ones. Everyday, farm folks live their lives with just as much generosity, strength, savvy, and grace as you will see anywhere else you'd care to look. Those folks have more horse sense than all the intellectuals on Lowry Hill rolled into an oatstraw bale. Never underestimate the intellect of a farmer.

-Sue Conner Mills- Carver, MN