Richard Jernigan -> RE: Ahmadinejad's Bodyguards (Feb. 22 2012 5:28:01)
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ORIGINAL: Ruphus Don´t need the "insulation of the internet" to be straight. I can't recall a duel among my acquaintnace over religion or politics in my lifetime. I can recall Judge John Onion of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals saying at my parents' dinner table, when I was a university student, that up until that time no one had ever been convicted in the state of Texas for killing a man he found in bed with his wife. I can remember a good number of fist fights, several knife fights and two gun fights among my acquaintance, over insults. I come from a prosperous, educated and well connected stratum of society, but I called out more than one person to a fist fight over matters of personal honor. "Anglos" used fists or guns. Among my Mexican American friends, knife fights seldom resulted in anything other than a few scratches. The intent was to determine who would back down and apologize. Usually, serious injuries resulted only from miscalculation, accident or loss of temper. Manners have changed radically over the last fifty years. I think it's a lot harder to insult somebody, and fights are much less likely even if someone succeeds. I heard one of my favorite stories from my great-uncle Custis Lee Jernigan, named after his cousin, the only son of Robert E. Lee. If I have posted it here before, I apologize. Uncle Tuss and his older brother William Walter Jernigan were riding horseback on the Natchez Trace in Mississippi. Uncle Wat was notorious for his hair trigger, violent temper, a trait he shared with my great-grandfather. We kids were very careful in Wat's presence, though we ridiculed him behind his back. Uncle Tuss said, "In those days the Trace ran through uninhabited woods in places. In one of those places a stranger fell in with us. Unfortunately, he and Wat fell to discussing politics." "I never carried a sidearm, but I had a shotgun in a scabbard under my leg. I backed my horse, pulled the shotgun and covered them both. I said I would shoot the first one that drew his pistol. They simmered down a bit and we rode on." "By and by we came to a tavern and went in for a glass of cider. The stranger had come to be downright polite, and introduced himself. Wat was still so mad he couldn't remember his own name." Tuss told the story in Wat's presence. Tuss was a witty and cheerful man, but I don't think anyone but one of Wat's brothers would have risked the exaggeration in front of Wat. The ride along the Natchez Trace would have taken place within 35 years of the end of what Wat called "The War Between the States"--the Civil War. The South had only recently emerged from military occupation by the North. Both politics and religion could lead to fatal confrontation in those days. In my childhood and youth I was well acquainted with men who lived through those times. Ruphus, I would gladly entertain you in my house. But I wouldn't take you to a bar in Texas, or many other states in the USA, for that matter. People here are tolerant of differences politely expressed and not pushed. Confrontation can still start a fight. I repeat that I am grateful to the internet for encouraging people to express widely divergent viewpoints without pulling any punches. RNJ
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