The Friendliest Town in America?

There has always been a lot of discussion regarding the friendliest part of the country. I've always assumed people were friendlier in the South, but we have found friendly people all over the country.

I know it's easy to judge a city or an area by the few people you meet there, while they may actually be an exception to the rule. Judging by my experiences with a few people, I'd have to say that the friendliest town I've ever known is the little town in Arkansas where Leida, my husband's eldest sister and only surviving sibling lives.

The first person that caused me to form that opinion was my sister-in-law's librarian. Several years ago Leida broke her pelvis and wound up in the hospital at West Plains, Missouri, which is perhaps 25 miles from where she lives. When we visited her there, we saw a stack of library books and enquired as to how they happened to be there. She said her librarian, from her hometown, had driven to West Plains and brought her a selection of books by the authors she knew Leida liked. And of course they were books she hadn't already read. As it turned out, Leida had at home several books that were due to be checked in, but the librarian wasn't one to knitpick. She knew the books would be returned. But who ever heard of a librarian making house calls, much less hospital visits?

The second experience happened a couple of years ago right after Leida had moved into a house on the main street of her little town. In moving her refrigerator and the gas range she wanted to use, it had been necessary to shuffle things around in the kitchen so there was not sufficient space left for a full-sized dryer. There were hookups for laundry equipment in the basement, but considering her advanced age, she chose to use the ones in the kitchen. She had bought a new washer when she moved, but couldn't locate a dryer that would fit in the space left for one.

My husband got online and located the smallest dryer with the largest capacity he could find, and started making phone calls. He finally decided to pick one up at Harrison, AR on the way to Leida's house.

We picked up the dryer and arrived at Leida's house about noon. The three of us were standing at the back of our pickup which was parked in front of her house, trying to decide on the best way to handle the dryer. It wasn't at all heavy, but it was hard to get a grip on the box. Suddenly a truck pulled up behind us and two youngish men hopped out. "Looks like you folks need some help," one of them said. "Which door do you want to take the dryer in?"

Leida pointed to the kitchen door and they went into action. They not only carried the box in, but unboxed the dryer, hooked it up, and hauled away the box. My husband would have been happy to pay them, but they refused. They were wearing uniforms that identified them as school employees, who were obviously on their lunch hour. We thanked them profusely and they left. "What nice men!" we said. "Who are they?"

"I have no idea. Never saw them before in my life," Leida said. And she was serious.

The third incident happened when we went to visit Leida several months later. Her TV antennae (yes, she still uses one and it works) had been blown around in a storm, distorting the reception. My husband found that her only ladder was too short to allow him access to the roof, so she sent him next door to borrow one. The neighbor said his only ladder was also too short, so he would suggest going to the city hall to see about borrowing one.

My husband walked the two blocks to City Hall and made his request, half expecting them to laugh at him. A lady in the office picked up a radio, called a city employee, and told him to take the tallest stepladder he had to Leida's address. My husband rushed back to the house and sure enough, a few minutes later a truck arrived hauling the tallest stepladder he had ever seen. "Call me when you're finished and I'll come pick it up," the man said. And he did.

In today's world of suspicion and litigation at every turn, we were amazed to find a place where people are so willing to go out of their way to help others, and strangers at that. So much of the time we find ourselves stopping to wonder if our act of generosity could lead to a lawsuit if, for instance, somebody falls off our ladder.

I wish the residents of every town in our country could and would follow the example of that little town in Arkansas