June 17, 2008 9:23PM

The Human Spirit is Hardcore, But How Long Will it Last?

By Robert Ray

6:48 p.m.

I am standing at the front of my vehicle, laptop on the hood of the car; mosquitoes are swarming me as I swat them away and the sound of clean up in downtown Cedar Rapids is deafening. There are three guys about twenty feet away tossing drenched sandbags into the back of a pick-up truck as a generator pumps water out of their business. They own a gift card shop, looked like it was nice about a week ago, now it’s destroyed. The shop is covered in debris, now one of the guys is drinking a bottle of beer, good for him, he deserves that. They have no flood insurance as most of the shops and business’s in Cedar Rapids. Rough times are here for middle America.

It’s been a hell of a decade in America thus far.

The American economy is by far the biggest story in the world, hands down, the biggest. The extreme weather in the Midwest is only part of this continuing saga. This has and will have implications on the price of food, volatility in the commodities markets, shipping, exporting over the oceans and of course on people’s personal lives. This is serious BUSINESS out here and I can’t say that enough, these are not easy elements and visuals for all these people to cope with.

Human spirit is hardcore and the people in Iowa should be commended for their efforts to keep a good spin on their situation.

Tomorrow we will report from Iowa City on the clean-up efforts there. I imagine those folks will have a similar strength. But I have to be honest, if I lost my home, small business, farm crop and maybe even all my memories I am not sure I would be as positive as these Hawkeye’s are.

That guy to my right just opened his second beer, he deserves that again.

My right ear was just bitten by a lousy mosquito.

Actually, that guy just offered me a beer……Jeff Flock just came over and told me “no.” Yeah, I know, I am still working. But this town does have a great spirit indeed.

7:02pm

Robert Ray