No Crooked Letter Blues
- Madalyn McKnight
- Apr 19, 2019
- 2 min read
I wasn’t born in Mississippi, but Mississippi raised me. Since 4 or 5, I have been educated in classrooms and educated by life here. Our leadership is not the most pristine or forgiving. And I resent some of the ways citizens and politicians neglect the very heartbeat of this state. This is still a state in the middle of the bible belt, and there are people who look at my skin and assume the worst. And at one time I just wanted to pack up and go! But God is teaching me contentment and seeing the beauty in where he has me in life. It happens everywhere but I won’t deny that it happens here, still. I also meet more friendly faces than non-friendly. I met my best friends in life, here. I learned about love and heartbreak here. I have eaten the best food my stomach could ever digest, here. I got my wounds here, I was healed here. Mississippi is vibrant, changing, molding, fighting, and proud.
I am not the statistics you read about. I am opposite in the best way.
I carry designer bags, my family has traveled the world, I got a top-notch education (that I took for granted early on) being here. It’s a shame that people think I haven’t had a fulfilling life not being surrounded by noisiness and skyscrapers. Home is where the heart is, and I brag about where I am from. It’s not cold and dank but full of personality and history. I can still remember honeysuckle trees and the joy of an open field. I remember dodgeball and standing outside with my friends. I remember the Beyonce-like wind hitting my face while the leaves of trees rustled in the background. For every bad memory, there are three good ones.
Photo via VisitMississippi.org
Life may take me elsewhere with better opportunities, but I won’t take for granted what is here and who is here. I also won’t take for granted that God brought me here for a reason. It’s a place that’s always welcoming, no matter how long I leave. I have memories in each region and its landscape still astounds me.
One too many times, people have tried me. Yes, we wear shoes, I have never lived on a dirt road in my life. But I do know what time it is by the song the birds sing, and I know the use of each utensil used during formal dining. Life is about balance and what better place to get it than my home.
Be proud of where you are from. No matter how drab or fabulous it is. It has a hand in molding the person that you are and you should not resent that.
*Featured Photo by Aidan Formigoni on Unsplash
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