Country vs. Southern

There are many phases we go through in this life. There are the bad ones and even the good ones. Some help us grow. And some are downright embarrassing to look back on. Even so, all of them help us grow and become the person we are as adults. Now I've been through my share of "phases" and dream rabbit trails throughout my childhood. Lord knows I've been down so many life roads in my head since I was a kid. I don't think I have enough room in this post for all the embarrassment. But I think we all go through that as we search for a home. Not a physical home or even a home as in a specific geographic location. But rather a state of mind, a place of comfort, perhaps a calling, a way of life. And I think most recently I have found mine.

I love history. I love western history. I love westerns. But I think there was always something holding me back from truly embracing my love of the modern western (emphasis on western) lifestyle. The plaid, the boots, and etc. I think it had a lot to do with what I've grown up seeing in my home state of Mississippi. No offense to my fellow Mississippians, but you have it all wrong! For pity's sake quit calling yourself country folk because you wear Justins with your country chic style clothes and go mudding and hunting every weekend. You ain't country! You are SOUTHERN.

There's a fine line when it comes to country folk that separates the wheat from the chaff and the country folk from the southern folk. I once complimented someone on their nice western boots only to have them tell me they aren't really into western stuff. Excuse me?!? Okay, deep breath. I know the shoes don't make the man, and your style of clothes doesn't necessarily reflect your lifestyle...Oh, no, wait. I think it does. At least it should. I mean, I'm not saying you have to live on a ranch to dress like a cowboy these days. But goodness gracious, if you aren't at least somewhat in love with the way of life, please quit giving the style a bad name. All I ask from the southern states outside of Texas is this... Quit trying to be country when you don't have a sense of western culture whatsoever. It's confusing. And to be honest, it's ruining the real definition and personification of the cowboy way of life. It's okay I suppose if you want to embrace a southern way of life. Just quit mixing western culture in with it while dubbing yourself country folk. Please.

Oh, yeah, and while we're at it, country music these days IS NOT country music. It's a mix of perverse values and southern pop rock topped with a fedora and skinny jeans trying to pass as western flair with little ode to the cowboy and the way of the west. It just ain't. Country music used to speak of life and real issues set to the backdrop of heart-tugging stories of strength and faith. Now days, without the influence of the true cowboy spirit, country music sounds more like a northerner trying to make it down here with little knowledge of the genre. Meanwhile, they've got plenty of hot girls, pickup trucks, and who knows what else. And they look like hipsters. Ugh. Here's a brief lyric study...

Upon getting my Googling fingers worked, I decided to put two country songs side-by-side. One from previous years and one that's topping the charts right now. I've never heard the latter, but I have heard the former. Just see if you can tell the difference between these two country choruses:

Year: 1994

One will get you where you're going
When you haven't got a prayer
And one will bring you back son
If you're dreams ain't waiting there
You're out on your own now
We won't be there to fall back on
But you know we're never farther
Than a Bible and a bus ticket home.

Year: 2016

You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

I have no words. Well, I may have a few. But anyways. And I'm pretty sure the first one sounds a bit more country western worthy musically than the latter. I'm willing to bet on that one. Oh yeah and go figure country artists used to sing about Jesus a little bit too. Shocker. Why? Let's see...The true cowboy spirit is about faith, family, and patriotism. Loving your country. Embracing those you love. And honoring the faith and values you were brought up to respect. I don't know about you. But somewhere along the line, that was forgotten along with the fact that artists have completely ignored the roots of the music of their predecessors and started calling their own version of music by a name it doesn't deserve. It's sad. Maybe I'll help do something about it one of these days.

Oh, and lastly...

Date With Danger

It happened before I really knew what had happened. My day was forever changed. It took only fifteen seconds but lasts a lifetime every time I relive that horror. What was once the unthinkable is now the unchangeable. It's like they say. You never think it could happen to you. But then it does happen to you. And you are left feeling as if you'll never be the same person again...ever.

Saturday started like any other normal Saturday for me. Dad's home. Perhaps a special breakfast beyond the usual run of the mill routine. Nice day. Sunshine. Probably a race to look forward to while I continue to think about the great stories I write every chance I get. Most importantly the day had begun with devotions and time in God's Word. Then it happened.

I sat at the same desk I sit at every day when I write and endeavor creatively to answer a message or do some writing-related thing. I pecked away at the keyboard with nothing but the words flowing onto the screen for whatever I was doing. Then I felt it. Somehow a menacing little twisty-tie had managed to get on the floor. It was the darndest thing! As I rubbed the little object between my toes, I continued to write, absentmindedly unaware of the horrendous encounter I was having until fifteen seconds had passed. Feeling a tingle between my toes, I gently scooted my chair back to see a nice-sized centipede honing in on my lower phalanges. You can just imagine what happened next. With a shriek that could have curdled the blood of an African mountain lion, I slid my chair back with a furry, getting of a pretty good, hard kick or two (thanks to my ever-expanding karate skills) to rid my bare feet of that despicable creature. It took me a good thirty minutes to recover from that ordeal. And to be honest, I still can't believe I lived through that.

So why am I telling you all this? Well, first of all mostly to share that I'm vulnerable too. Second of all, life experiences like these make an excellent funny addition of a scene to your Walker Texas Ranger fan fiction story you're writing at the time. But most importantly, never let your room get cluttered. But seriously... Sometimes there are things in life that don't seem like a big deal to you. There are things overall in our world that are given no regard. In fact, it may convince you that it's nothing to be worried about. That is, until the sting of it causes you to finally look at it in the face while it scares the heck out of you. And hopefully it won't be too late to make a difference in your world, and turn that thing around in your world for good. Don't assume everything's alright all the time. There's things that need to be changed in our world. Life's a battle. So don't let the enemy flank you. Flank him for once. Get off the couch and do something. It may seem insignificant to you. But in the long run, it may just be that little spark needed to cause the world to change for the better before the world changes you into nothing.

Remembering The Past

I was doing a little snooping about a favorite television series of mine last weekend. Shocker. Anyways, in my detailed searching I became increasingly curious if a certain exterior set that was used in the series still existed. After some top notch private investigating, picture comparing, and video analyzing, I found the very street! Thanks to modern technology, I was able to use Google maps street view. That thing is awesome by the way. It's like being there and walking on the streets where the cars drive because you can't actually do that. Weird. But cool. Anywho... I clicked the ole street view and instantly felt my heart sink just a wee bit. The building was gone. Vamos! Goodbye! Not there! Without a trace. Not even a brick left behind to show that it was there. Well, there was the fire hydrant and telephone pole that helped me identify the right location. Needless to say I was shocked. I mean, its stupid really. It's just a building from a show. But it was real to me. And in its place is a parking lot. A parking lot of all things! Tell me how that's better for the economy, eh? Okay, yeah, I'm grasping at straws now. But I really didn't expect it to be gone. Well, it's been a couple decades and all. But don't people have any respect for sentimentality these days? I guess not.

I got over it of course. Especially once I solidified the difference between fiction and reality in my mind. Granted half of my brain space is reserved for the fictional world as a writer. I have no shame about it either. Haha. But really... After the fact, it got me to thinking... (shocker)

Time passes so quickly these days while ignorance flourishes. My generation was in danger of losing a grasp on the past. But dear Lord I fear for the generation coming after me! Gives me shivers just to think how ignorant of the past they will be if we don't step up and make sure they know about the past. Without a television show, no one would know that a building used to sit on a certain lot on that certain street to serve as a source of entertainment for tons of folks a couple decades ago. I bet people drive past that parking lot everyday and never know about what was produced there. Not that it's necessarily important for them or anyone to know. (Although I contest that statement heartily) But just the fact that one building played an important role in one show and now is gone for forever, never to be rebuilt there. It brings to mind how much actual important history took place on your street in 1903. What cabin sat just a block away from your house and burned to the ground in 1873 when a prairie fire swept over the 200 acres of rich farmland your lavish subdivision now sits on? Who stood underneath that oak tree you chopped down last week in your back yard and proposed to their sweetheart just to end up heartbroken when the draft came up during WWII? Did that patch of land you planted your mailbox in two days ago once play host to an Apache spear as it marked its territory among new settlers of the west two centuries ago? Did the property that freeway you traveled this morning once shelter a wagon train as it headed west?

In the name of progress, what used to be is no longer. Yet with a little work and use of our God-given intellect, perhaps we can remember the places and what happened at those places in our country so many years ago and give it the reverence and remembering it deserves.