I was thinking about this story, the other day. It was so odd and I think of it often. I live in a city where this happens all day of course. I travelled years ago in my car some 14 hours drive to go and visit my parents, who lived in a desert area. There is a smaller city close to their area. Now I recall entering this city and people were just so different. I had men in cars “tip” their hats to me??? People waited, smiled at you. There was such a courtesy and caring, not only on the road and the trip but the town my parents lived in.
years later, we had a young lady come and work with us on a project in my city. She was from that city I spoke of. She was a wonderful person and everybody loved her. But she became thinner and thinner and more miserable.
I asked her, of course what was troubling her. She said she wanted to go back home, she couldn’t work here any more. She had never met so many selfish, self centred, ambition driven hard nose people in her life. Sadly she left. It did make me think, what kind of a world am I in? Have I underestimated the power of different cities? Is there such a thing going on in different cities. I often think and wonder, how much of my own city has rubbed off on me.