Sampson's Hair

 The power of the Southern man comes from his connection to the land where he lives and plays
And the strength of his family bonds.
And, believe you me,
the land where he lives and plays is as much a part of  him as his brother is a member of his family.
He sleeps there, eats there; works, hunts, and plays there.  

From the land he draws his power.
If you doubt me, look at the way a Southern man who is worn out and wore down on Friday looks like Superman himself after a couple days of on the river or in the woods.

To this land he gives himself.
As he walks the woods in search of food, trophies, or fun; he waters the land that he travels with the sweat of his exertions.
The blood of his body feeds this land.
It remains on the bark, branches, and briers that scratch at him as he passes through in pursuit of his prey.
The animals he seeks take their nourishment from the leaves and fruit of the plants trees and bushes that thrive in the rich earth of his place he calls home.
Lord knows any man who has stepped from his car on any warm Southern day can attest to the fact that unmpteen thousand flies, mosquitoes, and gnats have grown fat and happy on what flows through his veins. Just payback for years of fish fries ad deer sausage breakfasts, I'm sure.

But all jokes aside, the man and the land are inseparable.
From cutting the grass to clearing trees for a home to running a harrow or  plow, the two make their marks on each other.

The strength of the Southern man is his belief in action and his willingness to act.
I learned this as a child, and still retain it now.
My upbringing was all about action.
Taking out trash, raking leaves, and handing over tools during oil changes, brake jobs, and tire changes teaches the power and "rightness" of actually doing something instead of just complaining.
Even when I don't know all the steps to solving a problem, when I do the things I know, the rest becomes much more manageable and usually falls into place.
You learn early on that money or no money is irrelevant; the work must be done. A lot of weight falls on a young man's shoulders, especially if Daddy does a lot of double shifts.
"If you don't work then you don't eat" went right along with "Never time to do it right, but always time to do it over" and "If you want something done right, do it yourself".
As much as I hated some of these lessons, I've embraced the truth of this now. And all these are part of who I am now.

Of this one thing I am certain:
A man must find a way,
Or make one.

The strength of the land and his love for his family will not allow him to fall.

Yes, the Southern man is driven. By love. By nature. By his upbringing.
Hunting and fishing can be relaxing and put food on the table.
And a job well done provides is own unique satisfaction.
Of course there is more to it. Largely, a sense of duty that's part ingrained and part trained in.  
Because no one thing could make a man leave a willing woman in a warm bed on a cold day so he can go do a tough job in a nasty place for a hard-nosed foreman that he can't stand to make more money that he can't spend on himself.
Yet do it he does.

He does it because he understands his power and place as a true Southern man.
He does it for family and the pride he has in his role as its head.
He does it for duty
because he believes what they taught him
and his gut tells him it's the right thing to do.
(Have you ever noticed how many Southern men head off to war when the nation calls?)

He knows in his bones that failure is not an option.
When the going gets hard, he keeps going.
He draws upon the tried and the true,
Knowledge of himself and his history and his bloodlines.

His strength comes from the examples of his grandfathers who also trusted in the land where they are now buried to give them the things that they also needed when they lived.

It falls to this man as it fell to them who came before him.
They all succeeded,
and so shall he as well.

So long as his connection to the land is not cut;
this Sampson,
shall never be felled.