My Pittsburgh-native wife noticed this one right away. “You guys don’t give yourselves enough credit. You need to brag more.”
Ever notice that even the celebrities that hail from West Virginia seem a little more humble, a little more down to earth, than their Hollywood peers? How much of these traits are rooted in Scotch-Irish DNA, I’m not sure, but somehow we seem to all have been taught to do our work quietly, in a quality way, and then go on to the next task without seeking a lot of credit. We’re just doing our job, and we’re grateful for the opportunity.
It’s refreshing in a world of blow-hards, isn’t it? While it does make it tougher for us to tell the world how great West Virginia is (after all, that would be bragging), it makes us more authentic. In some ways, it’s up to the world to discover the quality of our people, and when they do, they really, really enjoy us.
The person who most comes to mind for me around this characteristic is Lee Kraus. Lee has the big-time degrees (Ed.D. in Instructional Technology), is a nationally-known expert in e-learning, is one of the most progressive “Web 2.0” gurus I know of, and is running one of the most innovative 21st century learning experiments in the country.
And yet the guy is the nicest, most humble, pleasant dude to be around that you’ll ever meet. Ask anyone who’s met him, and that’s what they’ll tell you (he would never tell you that, of course).
Talented, but extraordinarily down to earth. That’s Lee Kraus. That’s West Virginia.
Leave a Reply