It’s great to be back in the area vaguely known down there as “the North” and it’s even better to be back in the area I call “the City.” If you didn’t read my last post, I just spent a long weekend in rural Mississippi.
To their credit, the South is certainly an extremely sociable region. I never met somebody who wasn’t willing to say “hi” at the airport or in the parking lot of the fast food restaurant (the hotel was really the only other place I interacted with strangers at). Everybody in the South is really nice, so I apologize if I’m offending anybody.
On the other hand, it’s hard to fit in to. I feel like the city I live in has something for everybody, even the most convicted conservative Christians. Although conservative Christians would have no problem living down there, I would: as the northern city and the rural south are polar opposites.
For starters, there is little diversity down there: the only place I saw more than a few minorities was the airport. Then you need to add the fact that it’s a rural area, with less walking, more driving, and fewer opportunities to see the world. As well as the greater carbon footprint I’m sure they have. We once got in a car and drove what felt like less than a block-I could of walked it in ten minutes.
Speaking of walking, life is slower in the South. I swear, I was the fastest walker at the airport, which was the only place I had to walk. And nobody seemed to know how you walk on an escalator. They all just stood there on a packed escalator not going anywhere. When I got back and tried to walk on the escalator, they let me pass. Not here.
But the most shocking part was this: secularism is foreign down there.
Where I’m from, religion rarely leaves church. Down where I was, religion never stays at church.
Where I live, nobody thanks God when speaking in public (Meaning in front of strangers). This weekend, I heard that multiple times. I wasn’t offended by it, but I have several friends who I am sure would be very offended by it.
And on bank signs, in addition to the time and the temperature, the projected Bible verses. Yes. At a bank.
Suddenly, I know how people can listen to and accept Rush Limbaugh. It’s because they grow up and spend their entire lives, in that sort of place, where they spend their whole lives with one sub-set of people. There is nothing there to put a check: to stop and say “wait, are you sure that’s true?”
That is their fatal flaw. I’m not moving, thanks very much.
Stop Right-wing Extremism 