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Georgia Sweet Georgia
You can be assured that one of my last conscious thoughts as I cross that river for the last time will be about my beloved home State, Georgia, Sweet Georgia.
I want y'all to understand one thing right up front. I'm a pure Georgian. Always have been and, the Good Lord willing, always will be. I was born and raised in a small town right smack in the heart of Georgia, called Macon, the cherry blossom capitol of the South.
Georgia is one of the original 13 colonies and founded by James Edward Oglethorpe on February 12, 1733, and is the largest state east of the Mississippi River. Georgia has more than 500 cities, 159 counties and 180 school systems.
I realize that Georgia has been infiltrated in the last few years with a number of transplants, and they are all welcome, as long as they choose to live amongst us in peace without spending all their spare time telling us how much better things were back home.
Nonetheless, I felt, it is my civic duty to provide a primer of sorts for all the good people who have recently migrated to the Peach State. It might not hurt to remind some of the natives of a few points of pride as well.
There are some things that most Georgians already know. Coca Cola is ours, and unless you've had one in a green six-and-a-half ounce bottle, with a slight crust of ice on top, you don't know what the real thing is. And you might want to try pouring about half a pack of salted peanuts into one sometime.
If it weren't for Georgians Crawford Long, open-heart surgery would hurt like hell and for Robert L. Scott, we would have never been able to read his great novel, "God is my Co-Pilot."
Then, we have the Central of Georgia Railway that will best be remembered for providing my first real job and that exciting rail route of the late Nancy Hanks passenger train between Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia daily.
True Georgians say "ma'am and sir" and call their mother's "mama" and their father's 'daddy". They know that" y'all" is perfectly good English and never means just one person. "Fixin to" is perfectly acceptable, too. And if y'all don't like the way we talk, Delta (which is also ours) is ready when you are.
Long before the Olympics brought the world's greatest athletes to Atlanta, we gave the world Ty Cobb, Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Walt Frazier, Luke Appling, Johnny Mize, Fran Tarkenton, Bobby Jones and Herschel Walker. If you don't know who these people are, you ought to find out before you go to bed tonight.
And long after the Atlanta Olympics have faded from memory, the greatest tournament in golf will still be played in Augusta, Georgia every April, and on autumn Saturdays, 90,000 Georgia Bulldog supporters will gather in Athens, Georgia to cheer those "Red Shirt Dawgs" on to victory.
No matter how many times the Atlanta Braves play in the World Series, nothing will match the excitement of that first one. The Stone Mountain carving is lots bigger than the one on Mt. Rushmore and the people etched into the side of Stone Mountain deserve the honor. In 1864, Sherman burned Atlanta and much of Georgia in his march to the sea. Crack cocaine and other drugs bring more harm to Georgia than General Sherman ever dreamed of.
We don't grow the most peaches, but we still deserve to be called the "Peach State" because ours are the sweetest. That includes the Georgia peaches that don't grow on trees. We do produce the most peanuts, pecans, poultry and yes, those sweet Vidalia onions.
Elvis wasn't ours, but Otis Redding, Tom DuBose, Nancy Grace, the Allman Brothers, Johnny Mercer, Joe South , "Sweetie" Jones, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee, Trisha Yearwood and Alan Jackson are. So are Sidney Lanier, Joel Chandler Harris, Margaret Mitchell, Juliette Gordon Low, and Alice Walker. And I still miss Lewis Grizzard every day. Julia Roberts may be Georgia's prettiest movie star, but Holly Hunter is the most talented. Dakota Fanning may one day surpass them both.
FDR adopted us. His "Little White House" in Warm Springs, Georgia is exactly as it was the day he died there, near the end of World War II. Every Georgian needs to visit Warm Springs.
Georgia once had three governors at the same time. Lester Maddox wasn't one of them, but was elected by the General Assembly without getting a majority of the popular vote.
Georgian Jimmy Carter might have struggled while he was in the White House, but he became one of the best former presidents our nation ever had.
Gone With the Wind (1939) belongs to us. We own it. Not only is it by one of our own (Margaret Mitchell) and about us, but it's also one of the great novels of all time and an absolute film classic and we shouldn't apologize for liking it.
The Brown Thrasher, the Cherokee Rose, and the Live Oak are our symbols. Proud, decent, honest people are our heritage. None are as plentiful as they once were, but none are on the endangered list, either.
All Georgians can be proud of the wonderful songs that have been inspired by our great State such as, "Georgia on my Mind", "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Devil went down to Georgia", "Night the Lights went out in Georgia", "Georgia Rain" and lastly "Midnight Train to Georgia."
The best barbecue in the world is served at Fincher's in Macon, but Open Air in Jackson, ain't far behind. The best seafood was at Williams in Savannah, the best catfish is at Henderson's in Covington, and the best southern country lunch buffet is at Jeneane's, on Mulberry Street in Macon.
The best fried chicken in the world was served at my Aunt Dolly DuBose's house in Smithville, Georgia and the best homemade biscuits in the world continue to be served at my Cousin Ruth Steven's house in Wadley, Georgia. Grits is groceries and sugar doesn't belong in cornbread. God intended for iced tea to be served sweet. And lastly, Georgia ain't exactly heaven, but it will do until I get there.
G. Thomas "Tom" DuBose Lanier Sr. High School For Boys Class of 1953
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