Hello, it’s me again. While lots of things are happening, sometimes we ignore those things that give unique flavor to our remarkable place in the big picture.

Yes, we are part of the globe, more specifically we have been significant in globalization of this planet from an economic, social, religious, financial, cultural, educational, artistic, culinary and literary basis since the French ascended the river in 1700 looking for a place to establish a colony. Even our predecessors, the native “Natchez” were influential in the Western Hemisphere. Look at this site. We are on an ancient trail from Nova Scotia to Chile.

It is no wonder it was selected as the starting place for the new world, on the Father of Waters, the then highway for most of this continent.

Each day we can observe barge tours transporting coal, lumber, wheat and other grains headed out to help feed the rest of the world and power their factories that compete with ours. We even process soybeans to make diesel fuel that gets shipped overseas to seek the higher priced markets.

Our sons and daughters are in every part of the world competing, protecting, learning, teaching, earning, serving, preaching, helping and enjoying. Truly Natchez is everywhere. In history we rank with London, Rome, Athens, Jerusalem, Bombay, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

In 1956, 120 miles north of Calcutta when asked “Where do you live in America?” upon answering “Mississippi,” I was asked if I had ever been to Natchez. My response was “How do you know about Natchez?”

I was promptly informed “We read the National Geographic too.”

I might add they spoke better English than I.

Natchez has been described as a place that you have to be going there as a destination because it isn’t on a road to anywhere else. That is the beauty of it. It is a destination worthy of the whole trip and again and again. So what is missing?

We don’t have a motto!

“Where the Old South still lives” has been outlived. “Where the Old South meets the new,” is obsolete. “It’s like coming home” is a good one for Mississippi.

I submit this one as a candidate for Natchez. It is global in scope, true and enhances curiosity. Let me know what you think.

Here it is — “Niagra has its falls, Agra has its Taj Mahal, Egypt has its pyramids, but Natchez has its … come and see.”

How about it folks? Let’s put this on a 40-foot billboard in Atlanta and more

Erle Drane is a Natchez resident.