Now that I am in the closing stages of reporting on my On-The-Road adventure in the South and Southwest. It’s time to talk about my observations and prejudices of that area of the country. Pictures just don’t seem appropriate for this post, so there will be none.

Historically, I still have trouble getting past the Civil War and slavery issues. In some ways, I think it would have been better if we had split the country along a Mason-Dixon line during those times. Of course, I realize that was a hundred and fifty years ago and things are not the same, but in some ways they are.

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Getting to what I observed from this trip:

Watching the local television news and such, it became somewhat apparent what the main source of the radical right Christian mentality that is so dominant in that part of our country. Before I go any further, I realize that there are good people in this area, just like there are in the very “red” State of Indiana, which is where I reside. I know a few of those Southerners personally here at RJsCorner. So, I don’t intend to label everyone with my words. It just confounds my why the South is so solidly “red” when it comes to social things.

I watched a Sunday morning broadcast of a person standing in front of a couple of thousand people in a megachurch in Texas. I don’t know the specifics of this broadcast, but even after a couple of minutes the message became abundantly clear. The speaker talked again and again about all those evil people out there that need to be utterly defeated if the church is to survive. He just seemed to have no love in his heart for anyone who thought differently than him. In my mind, he was piling his views and prejudices on top of the words of Jesus. That is like putting horse manure on top of ice cream.

With this kind of preaching from their religious leaders, I can understand the distorted mentality of the people who follow them!

Too many there just don’t have the love of Jesus in their hearts

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Closing out on a lighter note, I had no idea that it was going to be soooo HOT when I visited there in May of the year. I thought all that heat was reserved for the late summer months. The realization that summers there, meaning April through October, are intolerable to this old Midwesterner.

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I was surprised to see so many Mexican restaurants. I know they call them Tex/Mex. It just seemed like they were everywhere. Mexican food is my second favorite, but after all that, I think it will be awhile before I eat that venue again.

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And then there is Texas. They drive too fast and recklessly and have a bravado that turns me off. I never saw a State flag that was ever smaller than the U.S. flag. Maybe there is a law against that? My view of Texas was not changed by my extended visit there. I know there are good people there, but the loudest ones just turn me off.