When most people think of the south, they think of this glorious region where it is always warm and people are extremely nice all the time. For the most part that can be considered as true. That is, until you get to talking about the history of the area.

What is overlooked is the fact that the people are extremely over protective of their heritage and where they came from. Being protective of your heritage is good, until it blinds you from the rest of the world.

Which is what happens to many people that I’ve come into contact with, they are so caught up with who and what they are. That they aren’t willing to associate, with people that they view as ‘lower’ than them.

Something else, that is common amongst what I’ve seen is that most of the people down south are born into the cycle of poverty, and they aren’t getting out of it anytime soon.

The best way that the government can get out of the cycle of poverty is by educating the next generation, so they have a brighter future. But when standardized tests are given to kindergartners and they are expected to pass the tests in order to move to first grade, that isn’t doing much for the future.

Students are graduating from schools with no real plans of the future, other than living at their parents house for awhile longer. Now, that isn’t bad until they take classes at the community college and drop out. So they have to work various jobs to pay back their overdue student loans.

With students having no plans for the future, they aren’t going into any but dead end jobs. The town that I used to live in is now filled with more vacant shops and run down buildings, than there are open stores. The mom and pop shops are no longer open, because corporate companies have come in and drove them out of business.

Please understand that the whole south is not like this, and there are people trying to better their situations. This perspective is from what I have experienced while living there and going back to visit my family.