One Book, One Bettendorf

Last year my husband and I up-heaved our family, leaving my parents behind—who were practically live-in babysitters of our three children— and moved to Bettendorf, Iowa.

My husband and I are both Canadian; he grew up between Quebec and Ottawa, Ontario, and I lived in the East Coast town of New Brunswick right up until University graduation

While growing up, beaches and ocean views were virtually a summer play ground for me and my siblings. We used to take the ferry over to Prince Edward Island every summer. Those island days were spent tiptoeing along the ocean shores and poking jellyfish out of our way with long sticks like some childhood version of Russian roulette.

With this childhood background, I could not imagine raising my children in the Midwest of the good ‘ol U.S.A. However, my husband works for Deere and it was a great opportunity for him and our family, so we packed up our belongings and moved here after a hurried two-day spree of house hunting

Following a very tearful good bye at the airport— where I will never forget the heart-wrenched look on my father’s face as he said good bye to his three grand babies— and many flights later, we finally arrived in our new home of Bettendorf This is where I learned my most profound belief: Being surrounded by decent people can make even the most foreign of circumstances feel like home

As we watched the movers begin to unload our belongings into our new home, we were immediately surrounded by teams of neighbors welcoming us. All of a sudden our driveway was like a summer BBQ gathering! With everyone saying their introductions, offering playgroups with their children, offering babysitters phone numbers, and even a sweet couple bringing us cookies. Immediately we felt like we were home.

We have made lifelong friendships since moving here. Now, when I look out at the Iowa corn horizon and miss the ocean view, I simply imagine the corn to be shifting sand dunes, and the blue sky beyond becomes the ocean— because with good friends and a little imagination, you can make anywhere feel like home.

Shelley Little

This I believe, that peace and freedom is the natural desire of all human beings.

I grew up Jewish in New York City. On television, I watched newsreels of the liberation of Nazi Concentration Camps, the terrible horror as mountains of naked bodies were bulldozed into trenches for mass burials. A friend’s mother was a camp survivor complete with a number tattooed on her forearm. She was skinny as a rail and afraid to go out. All this just couldn’t be real, but it was. I visited her apartment and played with her son. She was a happy woman watching her son playing with a friend in the peace and security of America. She was happy that life was better for him than it had been for her. I believe that the single most important matter for all peoples is the wellbeing of their families, not their material possessions.

In New York I saw lots of good people, going about their lives in the intense privacy that comes with the anonymity of the crowds. I recall during the great East Coast Blackout, I was an ROTC cadet at the time and a few friends and I pitched in to help. We led folks to safety out of darkened subway trains, and we directed traffic at major road intersections. Later in life, I came to the Quad Cities. There were floods and I helped fill sandbags along with co-workers on the Arsenal. Nobody ever asked for a thank-you, they were just doing what was right. I learned ‘Love Thy Neighbor’ isn’t just a concept or a cliché; it’s a way of life.

I joined the American Civil Liberties Union and served six years on their national board. We debated policies on Civil Liberties, and thru the give and take of those debates, I realized their importance. Once the ACLU agreed upon a policy, there was an irreversible movement to those ends. I learned that the rights we defend today would one day be looked upon by our children as just the natural order of things and that they would imagine America any other way.

I saw the great hope for real peace in the world as President William Jefferson Clinton brought old adversaries together at the peace table and hands were shaken and agreements made and peace flourished. I also saw failures as George W Bush pulled back from hard won agreements, thumbed his nose at the world and brought us into an unnecessary war.

I realized that the natural progress of humanity has been towards increased freedoms and decreased conflict. At times there have been backslides, mostly when cynical leaders have used hatred and fear for their own political purposes and self-aggrandizement. Still, throughout all history, freedoms and liberties have increased, bigotry has decreased and conflict has been looked upon with more and more disdain.

This I believe, people are inherently good. That is the natural condition of mankind. I shall take this optimism to my grave, secure in the absolute certainty that I am right. To believe anything else would be unbearable.

Arthur J Heyderman