I grew up in a small town. I currently live on a street that is closely surrounded by two small towns and my nearest grocery store is another small town away.
I have fabulous memories of small-town living - hours spent outside, building forts, hiking through trails, discovering CC Tree, playing in fields.
I went to high school in a larger town and then immediately went to Humber College in Etobicoke for journalism, doing my work placement at The Villager in the Bloor West Village.
I had no trouble going from small-town girl to big-city woman.
But if you listened to city dwellers, particularly those born and raised in the city, you would think that anyone who grew up or chooses to live in a small town must be a redneck.
Why is that?
Why is it OK to make prejudicial remarks about people who live in a small towns?
I expect many “city folk” are racist as noted by the number of hate crimes you read about in the city papers.
It’s been my experience that if you are a good person, a good neighbour, other things simply don’t matter.
“Country folk” like people who are friendly, who don’t mind stopping to chat and lending anything from power tools to a cup of sugar.
So I am sure people will forgive me if I get a little angry if people assume that because you live in a small town, you must be a redneck.
4 comments:
Ahhhh, CC tree, good times, good times...
Although I agree that some people place stereotypical judgement upon unworthy country folk - much of which is unfair, I do feel obligated to suggest that stereotypes exhist for a reason. I consider myself relativly open to people of all kinds from all places but I admit there is a generally a distinct difference between country folk and city folk. Although I do not agree that all who live in the country are rednecks I do stand firm to the notion that city vs country are ofter a very different kind of people. Keep in mind that although you grew up in the country, you did experience and live in the city, which suggests that you are different in various ways from those around you who have lived their entire lives in the country.
Yeah! I found one post I hadn't already left a comment on! And I don't know why I didn't because I know I read this post at the time. I agree with Stephanie that because you've lived and experienced other ways of life it makes you different from the types of people who never even visit farther than the end of the town where they were born. Can you imagine spending your whole life moving only within a few hundred miles of where you were born?
Happy SITS Day!!!!!
Cheers :-)
- CoconutPalmDesigns
I get this a lot too - we live in a very small town.
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