by Rachael Lee

Created on: June 05, 2008

The South.... the area below the Mason Dixon Line...Sometimes laughed at, sometimes held up to scorn, but never truly understood .....unless you are a Southerner. Typically, when you are not a true Southerner, thoughts about Jim-Bob and Bubba often tend to portray a lazy, querilous, sometimes good-for-nothing 'cuss'. That type of person exists in all areas of the world, whether their name is Jim-Bob or Alexander or Mike. People who are uneducated form a lower class that is visable in the cities as well as the country of our great nation. Northerners tend to see Southerners in a light that is less than gracious due to a prejudice that dates back to the reconstruction after the Civil War. Both sides of the Mason Dixon line have a working class, as we both have a more educated upper-middle class. Perhaps our attitude, slower and more full of thought, also tends to irk their faster paced lifestyle. We are not, however, toothless, tattoed, and stupid. That is not the true South. What is? It's honor, it's keeping your word, kindness, dignity, gentility and grace. It is an attitude of knowing where you've been, who your family is and keeping that family name clean because it's an heirloom, as much as a piece of land that you intend to pass down to your children's children. We are taught to remember that we are who we are because the men and women who have come before us have been people of worth, good people who have fought for what they believed in and carried on when many who were not as strong would have surely given up and not seen things through to the end. The South's charm cloaks many a steel backbone from those who have learned to stand firm when faced with troubling times. Southerners are different. We honor and remember the past - while keeping up with current affairs. We are more interested in history, literature and antiques, along with attending the Church of our choice and paying attention to the principals that our society was built on long ago. Sure, sometimes we have double names. Why? We honor the members of our family that are no longer here. We tend to keep our great-great-grandmother's name around, as we do her china, silver and furniture. We keep the traditions, the etiquette and the almost forgotten style of Southern Ladies alive, as we keep the memories of grand parties, beautiful clothes and life when it was a tiny bit slower wrapped in the warmth of the charm of the 'old' South. Our gentlemen are good men, trustworthy, chivalrous - daring and very sure of themselves and what they can do. They protect their ladies, as much as we allow it, and give the respect that is due their wives, daughters and families. There is something about a true Southerner that makes them special. They may not truly have a lot of money, they may not live on the land that belonged to their family for generations, but they have pride. They carry that pride wrapped around their shoulders like a cavalry cape from one of their ancestors, who most assuredly fought for his Country. It is a quiet self assurance in their worth, their ideas, their heritage. Most of the families of the South have earned that pride. They have had much, lost much, and rebuilt much, while keeping their families close to the ideals that formed our democracy, God, Country and Family. When we forget what a real Southerner is, we will have truly lost one of the most admirable groups of people ever seen.

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