Local Foods

[Godscreated]

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I'm sorry that happened to you, let me assure you most of the people of east Tennessee are not like that. I know that some of the west Knoxville crowd are uppity, I'm surprised the people of Morristown treated you that way. I know many from that area and I know they are good and kind people. My thought here is there is a large gap in our ages and I tend to speak for my generation. I can tell you that many of the people who live here today are from the north and I find them unfriendly, not all mind you, some are good friends, but they have not adapted to our ways of being friendly and some make fun of how friendly we are. When I grew up you couldn't go down the road without several people waving to you, they were being friendly and greeting you to a good day even though they did not know you. Sadly one has to go into the real small towns to find that today, sometimes I wish people had never found our piece of heaven here, smiles were common then and rarely seen today. Some call it progress, not me I see a wonderful place being destroyed in the name of progress. Money can ruin and here it is doing just that. That's why I so like Montana it reminds me of how things were around here.

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Problem, though, GC is that I found that those same people who wave at you have no problem talking behind your back five minutes later. I spent a long time there, so I feel I know the area and a lot of the people well. For example, when my dad died, the church ladies from his church (my dad was extremely religious) somehow overrode my sister's and my plans for the ceremony, and when my mom showed up for us (which was above and beyond for her- they had been divorced eighteen years) the entire congregation was aflutter. I even walked in on a group of people talking about her gall for showing up. This was in Oak Ridge, and believe me, every one of those people was a Native Tennessean United Methodist.

Thanks for your sympathy, though. I do appreciate it.

Like I was saying our age difference probably has some bearing on things, and I do wish you had gotten to know the people I know. I can promise you my church would have never treated you that way, nor would they have talked about your mom, actually they would have been glad she came to support you. We understand how things go in families and know that it's not really any of our business, we like to be supportive for others. If this conversation is uncomfortable for you, don't feel like you need to answer, I do understand.