The clank of the tracks and the intercom let us know that two more stops and we have arrived at the Georgia Dome/World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. It's late November and it's a typical North Georgia late fall with mist so heavy you feel washed as if you had just finished your pre morning shower. The sky is the gray that inspired one local bands mid ninety's song "December." Marta, Atlanta's mass transit system, has taken us from it's most western point Holmes/Hightower station to it's termination mentioned above. Dad and I are once again enjoying our annual ritual of receiving 35 yard line, row twenty-five $ 200 value tickets for free to view an Atlanta Falcon's football game. His company, which has a regional office in Atlanta, is always gracious enough to offer these tickets once a year at no cost. This year's opponent, the Tennessee Titans, were chosen as the game we wanted to see over others based upon one important expectation. They, being another southern club relatively close to Atlanta, were expected to bring in several more fans than other clubs further away, creating a festive pre game atmosphere similar to more of the local colleges in the region. After all, me being a Chargers fan and dad a Steelers fan, we really did not have "a dog in the fight" as they say in these parts. And disappointingly, due to a poor season, Tennessee fails to bring the large group that we have hoped; causing the game atmosphere to be as somber as the weather outside. After the first three quarters which are dominated by the Falcons, the Titans make a run but come up short. Atlanta wins again which always seems to happen when we attend. But if you stop and realize the history of this great city you will find that winning is a legacy that the ATL has left behind for years.
A Brief History
Known as Terminus, the whole purpose of it's birth was due to the fact that it was the meeting place of the Western & Atlantic Railroad. A last depot for supplies going coastal to Savannah and other port cities of the South. Much akin to it's kindred city in Texas, Dallas, it had no natural mineral resources around it. It had no major water ways, no major ports of call and therefore no reason to become what it has become. But as history has shown sometimes a place's greatest resource are it's citizens. A citizen's greatest resource is their heart.
A City Too Busy To Hate
During the nineteen thirties, forties and fifties Atlanta was the same size as Birmingham, Alabama. Compared to Atlanta, Birmingham had more natural resources due to the iron ore and coal found in the hills and uplands surrounding the city. Based on this fact alone, Birmingham should now be even larger than Atlanta. So what happened? After the Civil War an era came to the South known as "the Reconstruction." It was a horrific time of Black America attempting to pull itself up from it's past while dealing with stiff and often violent opposition from a culture that was emasculated by Union Troops years before and still smarting from it. A culture who did not desire to see a people group, thought of as inferior, as equal partners in building a "new South."When Alabama, particularly Birmingham, shouted out with Bull Conor, Jim Crow, attack dogs, water hoses and just plan hate; Atlanta answered with a more noble idea. Progress! Born were Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter. Born was the idea "that change was coming." Atlanta woke up one morning and look across it's pillow at Birmingham and saw it's need for rehab. It looked at the grotesqueness of a city that was addicted to the drug of hate. In essence, Atlanta new it could stay resistant, as most of the rest of the region, or it could accept the "new reality" therefore capitalizing on it. Boy, has it ever done so!
Atlanta in the eyes of the World
One warm morning in March of 2007 I was sitting at the gift shop of South Fork Ranch just this side of Dallas in Parker Texas. Yes, the same home of the famous Ewing clan years past featured in the blockbuster t.v. series "Dallas." Rummaging through over priced memorabilia I came across old DVDs of "Dallas" reruns. Coming to the conclusion this is what I desired to purchase upon a sea of posters, rhinestone and cowboy hats/boots. After all, I had to pace myself as I still had not visited the Texas School Book Depositor/Grassy Knoll area made famous for JFK's death. At the checkout counter I struck up a conversation with the clerk. As with most people in this friendly city she and I had a heartfelt conversation. Naturally, she asked me where I was from. I told her Birmingham via Gadsden. Since Gadsden is only full of 35, 000 strong, I also offer the caveat that it is close to Atlanta. She and I began to discuss that great city and she expressed a deep interest in visiting. Being a resident of the Dallas area this blew me away. I mean after all, Dallas was a "well known" city in it's own right. How could Atlanta capture the curiosity of a citizen of such an American Icon. But it had. It was the city of Scarlet and Rhett, "Matlock", "Designing Women" and the 1996 Olympics. At that moment chills ran down my spine as the magnitude of my dearest neighbor weighed heavily on my conscious. There would be other experiences as such years later. In September 2008 I felt those same chills as I boarded a bus in San Diego, California's Lindberg Airport on the way to the car rental station. Seated next to me on the bus was a young man on Labor Day vacation from none other than the "Peachtree City." This was after sitting on the flight over with another young man from metro Atlanta. This is significant since my plane left from Birmingham changing only in Houston, not Atlanta! Finally, in May of this year while waiting on "baggage issues" in Frankfort Germany I spent my time looking at the vast flight schedules of all arriving and departing flights to and fro Frankfurt. Homesickness weakened as as American cities showed up next to those such as Vienna, Budapest and Krakow. Listed were: Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco. These warmed my heart. But below those sprung Atlanta. Once again, like a school girl asked to prom by the "quarterback" chills ran down my spine. It was then that I knew that I could never escape the allure of such as special place no matter where I went in this world. And during most weeks popular media presents that same infatuation. Take a look at Hollywood and it presents a who's who of stars from our region. Now, it seems that one out of four has connections to ATL. The CW, a network geared toward teen/young adult programming, is almost dominated by references to the city in some form. Half the cast of one primary Tuesday evening show are from the Atlanta area. Another CW show, just last fall, featured the Georgia Dome and the Falcons as a backdrop. While another is filmed inside the city. Some of Hollywood's most well known names have connections to the city or are spotted shooting a project in it. It has become a mecca for the film industry as a locale for shows and movies. Concerning script settings, it should be more prevalent in the future.
What it means to me and what it should mean to you
Just like people, cities have their own personality. A unique way of presenting themselves to the world you could say. Our regional cities are no different. Miami, is like that obnoxiously, flamboyant "belle of the ball" that every guy knows is trouble. She wears too much makeup. She is loud, conceited, arrogant but none the less charming in a dangerous way. You know she will break your heart but you pursue her anyway. New Orleans is like that girl that was the classroom outcast to the untrained eye. The girl that was eccentric, hip, poetic, creative, mysterious and fun. The one that would take you out to a pasture and present to you an illegal drink for your age to help you forget about the "Miami's" of the world that had broken your heart. The one that could sense your heart and that you were hurting and needed a friend. The one that was rejected by the others on the surface because she was different but grudgingly respected and even envied by those same people. The one that could care less. The one that made you feel like a man again and made you realize that life is to be taken "with a grain of salt." The one that would show up in your yearbook years later as most "interesting." The one that would leave a lasting impression on your heart every time you'd recall her. Then there is Atlanta. She is the one that during your younger years you did not take a long look at due to the fact that others were seen as more captivating at the time. But she always knew who you were. She knew your potential, even when you did not. At the ball she would not necessarily be the "sexiest" but the prettiest. There she was, standing in her white one piece as a southern girl with so much grace should. She would smell like honeysuckle, azaleas and dogwoods in April as they were her corsiage. She could arouse your soul in a much more deeper way than any of the others could. She would always say yes to you but would say no to those that would break her heart. She had a disdain for those who pursued the Miami's. She needed more substance. Her reason for relationship was to make those around her better. To make those around her believe in themselves. To make those around her believe that they could fail but try again. To make those believe that forgiveness and progress were the greatest qualities of a potential husband. To make those believe that the future presented endless possibilities. She was one that after you matured you would marry and live happily ever after with!
Leave Your Hate at the Door
I write all this to display the outcome of what can happen when we make a conscious effort to forgive and forget. And believe me it is hard. Today's world is hardened, rude, self serving, crass and even nihilistic. But by learning how Atlanta took it's opportunity to hate and regress and smashed it by accepting reconciliation, progress, hard work, creativity and hope it is my hope that for the new year you will take a lesson from this wonderful teacher. She has showed us how be reach our full potential when there where so many excuses not to. I hope to see eveyone at next Fourth of July's Peachtree Road Race!
J.C.B.
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