As we were making plans to go to North Carolina to celebrate granddaughter Lily's first birthday, I was reminded of a two-week prospecting trip I made to the two Carolinas years ago when I was with the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry. I planned the trip around I-95 to cut down on driving time but I still did a lot of driving. The trip got off to a bad start. I was very busy and was in Alexandria with a client on Friday and left my glasses, never to be seen again. Sunday I flew into Columbia, rented a car and checked into a motel. My first action was to buy some reading glasses but South Carolina did not permit the sale of glasses over the counter. I had maps of the two states but without glasses I had to get out in the sunshine, make a tunnel with my fist and peer through it.
At one of the very first calls I made, the president's secretary met me and said, " We have been looking forward to meeting you. One of our best friends is Roy E. Lowe and we wondered if you are related." Then it happened. I said something like this, "I don't know but my grandfather was from South Carolina. I find people here are friendly good ole red necks like we are in North Louisiana." She exploded ,"you dast not call me a red neck." Things went downhill from there.
I understood that people called Southern white males red necks as a word of opprobrium, but a red neck to me was a person who worked hard in the open and got his neck burned brown. To me, being a hard worker and honest was not something to be ashamed of and did not make me less a person than anyone else.
(By the way, a number of companies visited the state and two industries located plants in North Louisiana as a direct result of my sales trip.)
I look forward to a happy time while we are in North Carolina. This I know and know full well, there are two words no one will hear me say.
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