I grew up in Iowa and then moved the bay area after college, and the lack of empathy and community spirit really struck me. When I was in high school and there

I grew up in Iowa and then moved the bay area after college, and the lack of empathy and community spirit really struck me. When I was in high school and there was a snow day, my friends and I would drive around with shovels looking for people who were stuck so we could push them out. Sure, there wasn't much else to do in Iowa :) but it was fun, and helped people. I went to Tahoe a few years ago with my brother and some friends, and the friends were shocked when us Iowans made them pull over so we could get a car out. Some things just have to be different though. As a kid I remember asking people for a quarter because I needed to use a payphone. But requests for spare change in the Haight just aren't reasonable to process. Once I tried to ask passersby on Valencia if I could quickly use their cell phone though, and after asking about 50 people just gave up. On the other hand, I've gotten into road biking out here, and every single time I've gotten a flat the next biker along has stopped to see if they can help.