Monday, November 17, 2008

Welcome to Mississippi

Ahhh....Mississippi.....A word full of imagery. Muddy waters, delta blues, stately mansions, and a friendly wave from everyone you meet. Unless you live outside the southeast, then your visions are of racial tensions, poor folks living in shacks, and illiteracy.

Don't confuse the low rate of college graduates with ignorance. Somethings you just don't learn in books. Take just the other day, one of my co-workers got a lesson from a shop guy that he won't ever forget. Apparently the best coon' dogs have flat heads and large b***holes. Hey, now that's something you can't learn at one of them there "ivy" league schools.

I bet that tidbit of information just confirmed every misconception you've ever had about Mississippi. But don't take it the wrong way. The guy giving the class on coon' dog shopping fits every redneck stereotype you can think of. But he's smart, real smart. His knows all manners of mechanical things, but not just knowing but understanding. There's difference between being able to do something and fully understanding how it works.

He knows animals: horses, cows, dogs, etc. He can grow and garden and pretty much support his family with out a grocery store. How long would you last without an Albertson's?

Maybe I haven't convinced you yet. Sure he knows a lot of menial things by the world's standards. I believe if he would have been born into a family of baccalaureates, he could have been a doctor. Yep, he's probably smarter than you.

Now your thinking, how sad that he was deprived of his true potential. He was raised by parents that taught him a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. In reality, that is what makes our nation run. People that do their job and do it well. I can dream and invent all day long, but eventually it's down to the people who make it happen.

Take a look around you, surly there is someone who appears bright, who does their job well, who goes the extra mile. Someone who didn't get the opportunity to go to college. Someone you can see the potential in. Don't feel bad for them. Keep an eye out, because successful people find ways to succeed.

So to end today's lesson, be respectful to those beneath you. Just because you graduated magna cum laude doesn't make you better or smarter. Beside's that hard working, greasy, shop guy's coon dog will run circles around the one you pick out.

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