As some of you may have noticed from my previous post, my comments about the South aren't always kind. But the South, for better or worse, was the soil in which I grew into the peculiar, prickly specimen I am today. Transplanted or not, it's what I am and will remain.

I know all these traits aren't the sole property of the South, but they're all unquestionably Southern, and that's where I acquired them. 

 1. I am polite. I say Please and Thank you. To store clerks, to panhandlers, to bank tellers, to millionaires, to cops, to missionaries (tough, that one), to ladies of ill repute. I avoid giving offense unless it's intended. Because everyone, regardless of station, deserves respect, till they prove otherwise.

2. I am courteous.  I hold the door for people. I give my seat on the train or bus to pregnant women and old people. The flip side of this is I expect the same from you. If you cut in line in front of me, or sit listening to your iPod while someone's grandma comes close to tipping over, you're going to hear from me.

3. I like to get to know people a bit before I do business with them. I'm unsettled by the speed with which  New Yorkers get down to the bottom line. I know, this is as much a Mediterranean or Asian trait as a Southern one. But I didn't grow up in Barcelona or Shanghai.

4.  I'd rather take a beating than back down. (Not in just the literal sense, though that's included.) Is that a virtue or foolishness? It's been a source of both good and bad in my life.

5. I am vengeful. Not so much regarding myself. But if you intentionally hurt someone close to me, watch your back. All the time.

6. I have a violent antipathy to racism. If this entry in a list of Southernisms surprises you, then you're probably not from the South. You may hate racism if you grew up in a family and region where it's  rare, or at least muted. But if you spent your young life butting against open, unashamed racism, day in, day out, for years, then hate may not be a strong enough word for the visceral passion I'm talking about.