Selling Maine with handshake and smile

I was quietly embarrassed when my father, a lifelong Mainer, would meet people from out of state; he often would insist shaking hands more than once if, in his estimation, the first one didn’t qualify as a “Maine handshake.” He would extend his hand once again, throttle the recipient’s unsuspecting hand, look him or her in the eye and say, “That is how we shake hands in Maine, like we mean it.”

Little did I realize as a red-faced boy at the time that this handshake and the persistence behind it would define for me a way of life in my home state and provide a metaphor for how I see things shaping up in the 21st century, Maine style.

Truly, much can be said about one’s handshake. From politicians, many of whom have provided Maine a rich local and national tradition, to businessmen, to residents and vacationers, a handshake can symbolize anything from a friendly greeting to a gentleman’s promise that one’s word is one’s bond.

On the business side of Maine’s future, we need to sell the Maine handshake as much as we do our beautiful coastlines and forest; as a proud Mainer, I cannot help but feel that a handshake somewhere along the line gave the folks at MBNA the quiet confidence that coastal Maine was a good place to set up shop and sink millions of dollars. Big banking a Maine industry? “No Way,” traditionalists probably scoffed. But with an increasing emphasis on the service aspects of business, what better industry for a place where qualities of service, dedication and compassion are alive in its people? Sell the Mainer and his or her potential, not just Maine, seal it with a firm handshake and look `em in the eye when you do so.

One of the questions at hand as Mainers meet the millenium is the problem of the “two Maines.” The celebration of diversity, however, must not be limited to the classification of race; rather, when Maine considers its own diversity we are even more appealing as a state that offers a diverse array of cultures ranging from increasingly urban Cumberland County to the quaintly traditional Aroostook and Hancock Counties. My father, a Shiretowner, liked nothing more than to drive “nowhere” and find “something;” a hot dog stand in Belfast with a friendly vendor; a harness racing track in Lewiston with some friendly Canadian horsemen; a Brewer shoe salesman with a quick joke and a smile. No matter the place, the greeting was the same: a good, firm, Maine handshake. Two Maines? Give me three, four or five because that is our appeal and our own celebration of Pine Tree diversity.

Aspects of Maine will change in the new millenium, but Maine people will not. They should not. No matter which question we pose about this threshold, whether it regard issues of business, infrastructure, state resources and control, or any of the other problems we face, the common denominator remains the caring quality work ethic of Maine people and their ability to meet challenges. The potato farmer has it. Our political leaders and state employees have it. The private professionals, support staffs and the self-employed of our state have it. My father certainly had it, and we should greet all pending challenges with a “Maine handshake.”

Paul Butler lives in Bangor.