Esse Quam Videri – To Be Rather Than to Seem.

When I was an undergraduate at UNC in the early 70s, I took a class with the esteemed sociologist, John Shelton Reed. It was just the sort of class you imagine and hope that college will offer, with each day bringing something new and thought-provoking to ponder.

One day, Professor Reed told us about the results of a nationwide survey that asked Americans what state they would choose to live in if they could live anywhere in the country. To much laughter, he revealed to our class that, out of all the fifty states, North Carolina topped the list of those whose residents preferred their own state to any other. As the laughter died down though, you could see the wheels turning in people’s minds as all of us started considering how we ourselves might have answered that question. Before long, we begin admitting to one another somewhat abashedly that, when it came right down to it, we too would pick North Carolina over any other state as a place to call home.

Every state has its attributes but the truth is it’s hard to pin down anything particularly special about the state of North Carolina. Sure we’ve got mountains and beaches and barbecue and college basketball but plenty of other states have good food and even more striking vistas. College basketball, okay, no one can top us there but is that reason enough for people to never want to leave?

Tar Heel fourth graders learn the old saying in their North Carolina history class that North Carolina is a vale of humility between two mountains of conceit (those would be South Carolina and Virginia). All of us are able to appreciate the irony that North Carolinians take great pride in being renowned for humility. North Carolinians ARE a deeply proud people, it’s just hard to pin down what it is we love so much about this place.

Years ago there was a commercial with the memorable refrain “I like calling North Carolina home.” More than anything tangible you can point to that makes us like this place, that song sums up what is the closest I can come to an explanation. It’s the reason I exhale a little sigh of relief when I cross the state line and see the “Welcome to North Carolina” sign. North Carolina is home.