Bad Links?
Other glitches?
Notify Webmaster

Divas and the devil: Who sent me this guy?

By RONDA RICH

I went to a bridal luncheon the other day where the guest of honor extolled us all with an account of how she serendipitously met her intended. It was, indeed, a lovely story, the kind that renews hope in even the most cynical of hearts.

She concluded with, “All I can tell you is that the good Lord sent him.”

How nice. The good Lord, however, rarely sends one in my direction. Normally, Satan sends them.

There’ve been a few of ‘em: the pathological liar, the diabolical schemer and the one who caught the steadfast fancy of the FBI.

I won’t go into that one because my cooperation landed me in the witness protection program. If I told you the story then he might be able to find me.

After the luncheon, a couple of girlfriends and I got into a discussion about the largesse of the Lord as opposed to the deception of the devil. In pondering the chat later, something occurred to me.

In my travels outside of the South, I have discovered that it is mainly us in the Bible Belt who believe in, or at least who talk about, the devil and the havoc he creates. I have never heard a New Yorker or a Chicagoan say, “The devil won’t leave me alone today! Everywhere I go, he causes a problem.”

It makes me wonder, too, if anyone outside of the South grew up in a household where their mama (not to point out any particular mama here) said on a daily basis, “That was the devil in you that made you do that. Aren’t you ashamed?”

I pulled out my Bible. I called on the experts. I asked, “Why is this? Why do Southerners talk about the devil as freely and frequently as we talk about the Lord?”

My friend Janet is a Boston Episcopalian. She is staunch in her faith, prays daily and attends church regularly. We have talked often of this, yet I have never heard her mention the devil.

I called her up. “Do you New England Puritans believe in the devil?” I asked tongue-in-cheek.

“I’m not a Puritan,” she retorted. “I just know that no one I’ve associated with mentions him. We think of the devil as just a character, the opposite of Santa Claus. To be honest, I believe in Santa Claus more.”

I pointed out that each force has to have an opposite.

“I think that the evil forces reside in New England drivers,” she replied. “Anyone who has driven in Boston traffic wonit challenge that.”

Interesting. This isn’t to open up a theological debate. Just an observation on yet another difference between Southerners and others.

I once saw a survey that reported that the vast majority of Southerners believe in the devil while a small percentage outside the South believe in him. Another friend and I were discussing this when her grandmother, who lived a portion of her younger years in Detroit, spoke up.

“Ain’t no reason for them people to carry on about the devil like we do,” she huffed.

“Why?” we chorused.

“Because they’re already living in hell.”

I’m not going there. I think, though, I have, at last, figured out why deviled eggs are so important to Southerners and not to the rest of America.

[Ronda Rich is the author of “What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should)” and “My Life In The Pits.” She lives in Gainesville, Ga.]