We are truly family

[myusername]

Hi my name is Charles and I want to tell you what i did last week. I was told by my biological family that my aunt that lives in Knoxville, Tennessee was on her last legs so I was blessed by my wife. She sent me to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit my aunt Erma who is okay. WHile I was out there in Knoxville I thought it would be an interesting thing to see what the east Tennessee reefers are creating in their reef tanks. I searched for any connection in Reef Central to KNoxville, Tennessee and the reef community. After going into 4 different threads I finally found east Tennessee community so I quickly created a thread to tell the east Tennessee community that I was out there and that I would love to see what the community has created. And it just so happens that particular weekend (which was last weekend) they had a club meeting so I decided to go and their community was very helpful. THey offered to show me how to get to the location where the meeting was held and everyone out there was willing to show me around Knoxville, TN as well as to entertain me at certain activities like fishing. In today's world there are a lot of things that help separate people and keep people at each other throat. I am a black man who just happens to deal with the issue of racism on a day to day basis in California. It just so happens that when I was in Knoxville the reef community treated me like I was one of their own family. They had a spread of food that was worthy of being a king and they were truly interested in what my experiences were in the reef community as well as they were helpful enough to share their experiences and knowledge. They didn't have anything to sell they just had a simple bond between two different reef communities. There are no words that I can express the gratitude and the love that I have now developed for the east Tennessee reef community. I learned something very important when I first got involved in this hobby by Hugo which is there is a definite business side to this hobby but it's not about that. It's about developing friendships and sharing knowledge about something we all love. WIth things that are making this hobby change daily i am truly glad and blessed that I found a community that truly understands those concepts. I hope to see this type of sharing will inspire others to treat other reefers with the same type of honor and respect that I have experienced in Tennessee.
Thank you - Charles.

 

[spline9]

What you experienced is what they call "Southern Hospitality". Being a SoCal native, its a bit strange to me (sad, isnt it?). But its pretty awesome, too. They go far, far out of their way to make sure youre taken care of. Its amazing.

In a place like LA, everybody is too much in a hurry to get things done. No time to care about anything, even ourselves, let alone our loved ones. It even shows in the way we drive. The idea of "why should I bother being nice to a complete stranger, whats in it for me?" is a domino effect. If people arent nice to you, then why should you be nice to them, right? It's sad, really.

We cant change SoCal's attitude but we definately can affect our little reefing community. Theres a reason why the SoCal forum is so busy. Not just because theres good information to be had but because we are our own little family, so to speak. There are damn cool people here. If we dont take care of each other, we only have our LFS to count on and we all know what that used to be like, dont we?

Glad you had an excellent experience out there. I would like to see that one day, they could say the same about us.

 

[NicoleC]

Nah, that's mountain folk hospitality -- or maybe a little of both. Mountain folk decide who their family is, and it may have absolutely nothing to do with blood.

The South has a bad rep on the racism front and there are still a few places where the stereotypes are all true, but most of the South has come a looooong way. I grew up in Virginia, and I see much more racism here. At least in the South, if someone has a problem with you because of race they'll tell you to your face -- no pretending to be nice and then stabbing you in the back.

But I always found So Cal people to be pretty nice, too. And when I moved up north, I missed them. Every place has it's good folks and bad folks -- and I know the folks on this forum are almost all open handed and generous to fellow reefers.

Glad you enjoyed Knoxville. I was in that neck of the woods a few weeks ago and there is definately a special attitude from the people there.

 

[JE]

Its cool how people from reefcentral bond without ever knowing anything else about someone except that they are a reefcentraler.

Last night I was talking with someone from reefcentral about a plumbing question. Never spoke with him in my life. We ended up talking about hockey playoffs and golf for about a half hour! And they next time we are in eachothers area we plan to play a round of golf together.

That is something that lacks in LA. To many jerks. Would it hurt anyone to smile and say hello to others in malls,stores, businesses? Or wave when someone lets you in a lane in traffic. Actually, LET SOMEONE IN YOUR LANE. IF MORE PEOPLE WERE COURTEOUS, LA WOULD BE LESS HOSTILE. Whatever happened to shivalry?

I hate starbucks because I dont like coffee. But when I take my wife, the workers in there are taught to be extra nice and courteous to customers. I think that is a valuable thing they did for their company and it makes me want to go there just to get nice service.

 

[Sk8r]

People who love animals and nature and tanks and birds and dogs and cats are capable of loving each other, I've found. It's a good thing.

 

[Charles99]

did you CC them on that post?

Great story.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Great story in deed. And yes it is a part of "southern Hospiatality" , I should know since I grew up in Texas.

It has really amazed me at some of the people I've conversed with both on the board or at club events and even in the LFS talking to prospective new club members. People seem to be at ease when you have something in common to talk about. I've spent several hours both on the phone as well as at peoples houses talking about reefs, etc. It's a great thing. I've made some new friends along the way. I've even gaind some respect and trust both for them as well as from them and it's great to see in this world we live in nowdays. Kind of reminds me of the old days when a mans word and a handshake was all that was needed. I still try to live by that.

jjb81speed,
Your comment is right on. Something my wife and I commented on one day when we were visiting hawaii. We had taken a trip to the North Shore to get away from the tourist trap of Wakiwaki. It was amasing to see people stop to let you pull into traffic or to turn left in front of them. Truely amazing. It's the same I've noticed in Baja on my travels there. You'd never see that in L.A. People in those places are in no hurry. They have a different attitude about life. maybe that's why I enjoy places like that so much, laid back, take each day a little at a time, no rush to do anything.

 

[JE]

My wife and I went to Italy for the Olympics. We have some friends that live in Torino, and they took us around Italy to show us everything! Our friends and the rest of the Italians were sooooooooooooo nice to eachother. I was so impressed. When we would stop and ask for directions people would actually hop in their car and take us to where we were going. That happened about 4 times. Of course if it was just us americans it might be a little different. But I LOVED how nice everyone was to eachother. My wife and I have been trying to spread that all over LA since weve been back.............

 

[raskal311]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7443582#post7443582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjb81speed
My wife and I went to Italy for the Olympics. We have some friends that live in Torino, and they took us around Italy to show us everything! Our friends and the rest of the Italians were sooooooooooooo nice to eachother. I was so impressed. When we would stop and ask for directions people would actually hop in their car and take us to where we were going. That happened about 4 times. Of course if it was just us americans it might be a little different. But I LOVED how nice everyone was to eachother. My wife and I have been trying to spread that all over LA since weve been back.............

Too bad I didnt get that from the French when I was in paris last summer.

 

[riotj]

I too lived in Virginia for 20 years (Northern Virignia) and I too miss that Southern hospitality. I hoping to find that nice community with Reef Central SoCal. I look forward to meeting some of you tomorrow at Greg's.

Joe