L5Larry Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I have been fortunate enough in my lifetime to have received, and (hopefully) provided, MANY "random acts of kindness", and I will continue to believe in my fellow human being. In this crazy world we live in there are two things you can always bank on, SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY, and TEXAS JUSTICE. I believe in both! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 When I lived in Memphis I developed a lot of good friends over some eight years. These were people I'd trust with anything I owned, knowing they would care for them as if they were their own - or more likely, better than if they were their own. But they're also the people who found it most difficult to understand why it's simply more comfortable for me here in "America's outback." The middle Tennessee culture is pretty good. Add that sort of foundation to the necessities of literal survival in an area of far lower population densities and you've got why I feel more comfortable here. As the saying goes, I like my fellow man, but I like him better if he's spread out a bit. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveinspain Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Nice story Chan, good thread! I'm from Boston but have moved around quite a bit, lived in Florida, California and now Spain. I gotta go with Andy on the karma thing in that you create your own energy, positive and negative. If you create positive energy you will have positive energy around you which creates positive results. On the other hand if you create negative energy all kinds of crap will be happening all around you. How you are, who your friends are, who you associate with all impact on your life. Doesn't matter where you are, it's how you are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrosurfer1959 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Doesn't matter where you are, it's how you are... Fantastic sentiment, but I gotta think all the positive thoughts in the world may not be enough in some of the major urban cities. There are quite a few places now that if your not born there, then you need to not go there, at least not without your own SWAT team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookieman15061 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 My sister married a guy from Tennessee. He cheated on her. They're not married anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sexygibson Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I lived in Tennessee for a short while. Orginally from South Carolina I felt right at home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badbluesplayer Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Here's another Tennessee story. We live in East Tennessee. My wife's driving along and rear ends this guy. She hits him in the rear of his utility trailer - one of these trailers that the guy hauls his lawn mowers around on. She rides up on the trailer a little and bends one of the ramps and does a little customizing on her van. She puts a big gash in her tire and its flat. So the guy gets out and says "Don't worry about the trailer". Then he spends the next half hour changing her tire. The spare is up under the van in the center of the chassis - almost impossible to get to. All the time he's telling her how sorry he is that she has to out there on the road and telling her how nice a husband she has for making sure the right tools are in the van. Then the guy just finishes up and drives off with his bent trailer - like "Have a nice day, Ma'am." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl M Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I've lived in rural Tennessee my whole life. When my oldest child, who is now in college, was in kindergarden, the wife and I got our communication wires crossed one day. She thought I was picking him up at school, I thought she was. About 3:30, his teacher called. She said she figured something like that had happened, so she just took him home with her. She told me not to hurry, that he was fine. When I got there to pick him up, he was sitting on the floor watching TV, eating a peanut butter sandwich, just happy as a kid can be. His teacher just smiled and said it was no trouble at all. It goes both ways though. I got to be a part of a group that roofed the house of a family a few years ago when the man of the house had been hurt and they were struggling. I didn't make a dime, but I will forever carry with me the look on their faces. I have no doubt that there are good people and good experiences everywhere, but I am very glad I live here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG FAN Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Not really - other than one has a good football program and the other ~ not so much. How do you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 There are plenty of good folks, outside the collar counties and down south, who will give you the shirt off'n their backs if it will make you happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 How do you know? How do I know what? That Alabama is a good team or that the volunteers are not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Daryl M.... There are good folks everywhere. I think sometimes that those with a more rural background tend to be more "neighborly." They also tend to be more self sufficient. "Neighboring," on the other hand, tends to be a tradition, so.... Same everywhere in the world, I think. In cities, one tends to discover the strengths and weaknesses of one's neighbors only when there's some sort of disaster. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG FAN Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 How do I know what? That Alabama is a good team or that the volunteers are not? No, just asking you to back up your incredibly generalized statement that Tennessee is no different than Alabama. Elaborate, please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 No, just asking you to back up your incredibly generalized statement that Tennessee is no different than Alabama. Elaborate, please? I lived near the boarder of Tennessee so I was back and forth and knew people on both sides spent time on both sides... not a lot of difference in the people I met and in the way things were. Oh did I mention I have family from both places too? Again, not much difference. With a few exceptions all of my family are from either Alabama or Tenn. Why do you seem to take this so personally? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojo68 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Certain parts of memphis I wouldn't want to have a flat in ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LPguitarman Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Good story ChanMan. People around here are pretty friendly too, but I can't say that I'd have the same experience as you did. I'd be calling a tow truck and it wouldn't be free. I did have a stranger put a spare on my sister-in-law's car before I was able to get there to do it myself. But that was just his time and labor. No fixing involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG FAN Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Why do you seem to take this so personally? I think a person should have a sense of pride in where they are from, I think that is what many Americans lack, these days. I was getting a "the South is all backwards rednecks" vibe from you, I apologize if was offbase, sir:>) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 jojo68 I'm with you on the "certain parts of Memphis" you wouldn't care to have a flat in. It wasn't quite legal, but I did have a .357 under the seat of my vehicles when I lived there. Never had a problem, so they never were touched but occasionally to ensure they were clean. My police officer student/friends always carried off duty. On occasion I'd carry or store one of their ... toys ... when they were doing athletic type stuff. As I said, there were folks in Memphis I trusted like family. Others I evaded if at all possible. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I think a person should have a sense of pride in where they are from, I think that is what many Americans lack, these days. I was getting a "the South is all backwards rednecks" vibe from you, I apologize if was offbase, sir:>) Hey no apologies needed except don't call me "sir" in the Air Force I worked for a living Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daryl M Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 On a similar note... About 20 years ago, I was just a young buck, traveling the country in a van, playing in a bluegrass band. One night we got lost, middle of the night, in Chicago. In the days before GPS, we pulled into a parking lot of what had once been a mini-market to check out the map. Seemingly out of nowhere came about 20 young guys, mostly African American. The came right up to the van, so we rolled the window down. (We'd never seen a gang before. We were too green and ignorant.)One of them asked us our business, so we told him we were from Tennessee, a bluegrass band, and we were lost. Then one of the gang suddenly pointed inside our van and said, "What's THAT?" Sure enough, one of the guys in our band had got his BANJO out to pass the time. So, a van full of 20 year old white Southern boys, including a banjo player-meets a Chicago gang in the middle of the night. The 'spokesman' then kind of shook his head and said, "You guys gotta get outta here. It's not safe around here for you all." He gave us directions and got us back on our way. When I look back now and think how that could have ended, I'm amazed. There really is good in most people. THAT is a moment of hospitality that I will NEVER forget. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djroge1 Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 On a similar note... About 20 years ago, I was just a young buck, traveling the country in a van, playing in a bluegrass band. One night we got lost, middle of the night, in Chicago. In the days before GPS, we pulled into a parking lot of what had once been a mini-market to check out the map. Seemingly out of nowhere came about 20 young guys, mostly African American. The came right up to the van, so we rolled the window down. (We'd never seen a gang before. We were too green and ignorant.)One of them asked us our business, so we told him we were from Tennessee, a bluegrass band, and we were lost. Then one of the gang suddenly pointed inside our van and said, "What's THAT?" Sure enough, one of the guys in our band had got his BANJO out to pass the time. So, a van full of 20 year old white Southern boys, including a banjo player-meets a Chicago gang in the middle of the night. The 'spokesman' then kind of shook his head and said, "You guys gotta get outta here. It's not safe around here for you all." He gave us directions and got us back on our way. When I look back now and think how that could have ended, I'm amazed. There really is good in most people. THAT is a moment of hospitality that I will NEVER forget. You know all of my family is from the south but my sister and I were born and raised just outside of Chicago and all I can say is "Wow - you are some fortunate dudes!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 True enough that Alabama has a better football team most years, but the interstates are better in TN. Oh, and Roll Tide! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Well, I'm not sure Alabama is in the south. Some feller once said, "Pennsylvania has Pittsburgh at one end, Philadelphia at the other and Alabama in between." Now who was that??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marvar Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Davy Crockett, Esq, was born here... Gibson chose to take up residence here... It was good enough for the King... It's good enough for me! (even if the football team is in a "rebuilding phase") 10se Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Mollard Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 Well, I'll tell you this story about where I live, which is Saint Louis, Missouri. I had been in Portland, Oregon, for a week last summer over the Fourth. I was staying with one of my oldest friends, and had a blast, an absolutely great time, you know? But I'm a midwest boy, and I was getting tired of all the... trying, I guess, for a better word. All the trying they do up there to be progressive and hip, and it's not like they do it badly, it's just... hard to say. And while I'm white, I live in St. Louis, and I found it odd to see an almost total lack of black folk. And a black guy picked me up at the airport there! One of my friends from here. Anyway, I get on the plane and I'm back in St. Louis summer... it's 99 degrees. I'm tired from having to have gotten up at five that morning for the airport. My girlfriend's father picks us up at the airport, and I'm on the way, so they drop me off first. I ask to be let off at the top of my street, there's place I can get a six pack there, which I want some of, so I can go to sleep and stay asleep. So they let me off, and I'm standing behind this man while he buys a six pack, he's an older black guy, I'm white, we're both buying six packs. Now, Saint Louisans talk to each other, no matter where we are or what we're doing, whether we know each other or not. The bus, the street, it doesn't matter. So I tell him that the beer he's buying is something I enjoy, and he mentions another beer he enjoys. I tell him I'm just buying Busch. We're having a time of it all. Next thing I know, he tells the woman at the cash register to put my six pack on his bill. I object, saying that's crazy, but it doesn't do me any good, she takes the money. He buys me the beer. I caught up to him in the parking lot, shook his hand, and told him the facts: I had been back home for less than ten minutes. It felt good to be home. Now, St. Louis is no racial paradise, or paradise of any kind. But I was struck by what he'd done, just a couple of people living together in a community... a community with problems, but who were still intending to make a go of things with no pretensions or anything like that. Anyway, it felt good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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