Given my travels and living in cities, I think I am street smart. When I come to the south I realize I am a dumb Yankee. It is not as if I leave my smarts at the Mason Dixon line. The difference when I come to the south is that I find that I discover what I do not know.
I do not always understand a southern accent. When two uniform policemen walked pass me as I stood in front of my motel door, they said something and then asked a question. I had no clue what they had said! I smiled and said something about behaving. Moments later I found out that they were walking around the motel to see if there was any evidence of the robber who had held up the front desk moments before.
As flexible as I think I am at driving, left or right hand drive, four wheels or two, big or small, I made three bonehead mistakes in a row yesterday! It was as if I did not know how to drive. Fortunately the passenger beside me was helpful in alerting me to my “oops”. I was sure that Tennessee signs were the same as the world over, but somehow I could not read them.
Even something as simple as explaining why I came to the south proved problematic. I suggested it was family, celebrations, and food. I had no idea that my views on food would be tested. Fortunately I like slow cooked grits with black pepper and a side of spicy sausages (vegetarian work fine).
I realize that I need every facility that I have and the help of others. The blunt reality is that if I relied on myself I would be in a pickle. Said another way, “if the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it.” (1 Corinthians 12.18)
Thank God for multiple senses and others.
