Posted by
flagwaver on Thursday, December 28, 2006 9:25:02 PM
Most of us in the South know the saying "American by birth and Southern by the grace of God" and all of us knows what it means. And I am one of those that feels that he is Southern by the grace of God!
I love being from the South; it's history, tradition, and values have helped make me who I am. I love the fact that I hail from the Confederate state of North Carolina, and I appreciate the role that she played in the Civil War. You see, most North Carolinians were not fighting to preserve slavery, but to preserve their idea of freedom. Only about 30% of the citizens of the state owned slaves, but 100% believed that it was the right of the states to determine the way the states decisons were made...so they decided to stand up for their rights. What is more American than defending your individual rights against an increasingly far reaching federal power?
I love the Confederate battle flag for the same reason; I may not agree with the principles of every man that carried that flag, but I can admire their willingness to sacrifice their comforts, conveniences, and very lives to defend their freedoms. So to me, the battle flag is no more a symbol of racism than an American flag is. Both flags, and the Cross, have been appropriated by hate filled men...but that does not make them symbols of hate in my book!
I love the way we in the South treat one another, too. I love the fact that we all, black, white, or other are willing to greet one another in a cordial manner. It doesn't matter whether we know you or not, if we see you we speak to you! Men seem to be more chivalrous in the South, women more feminine, and childen more well behaved than you will find most anywhere else. That may just be my bias showing, but hey, that's how I see it!
Hell, I'll even take our racists and bigots here in the South over any from anywhere else in the nation! See, our racists and bigots here are honest about who and what they are; they don't spend a lotof time putting up phony fronts for anyone. You know who they are, where they are, and what they think so it's easy to deal with them. They don't make any pretense of liking the groups they have turned into the "other", and the "other" does not pretend to like them either. They are who they are and it's easy to deal with them!
And those are just a few of the things I love about the South! I also love the food, the weather, the sense of family, and the comraderie of the South. Because all of us, black or white, rich or poor, all believe at least one thing in common: I am American by birth, but Southern by the grace of God!