Spoiler Alert: Many communities are anything but unless you fit the profile.
People are friendly to each other, especially their neighbours and friends who they know well, agree with their politics, and go to the same church. They are more tolerant of those who have kids who went to school with their kids and to those who were raised there. They love those with the correct mix of humility and success. There is nothing like a small town where you can band together and fundraise, build facilities, and ease the burdens of the injured, the unfortunate, and the sick. They have huge hearts until they see a threat. They still band together, but the outcome is anything but friendly.
If you are different, funny-looking, from a country that feels threatening or a neighbouring town the locals think is snotty, your small-town living experience might be anything but friendly. There is a weird sense of entitlement among people who spend their entire lives in one place. Locals regard their opinions as legitimate because they see each other as having greater local power and privilege than the newbies. They have been here longer and, therefore, think their opinions hold greater weight. Any change to that, even a positive change, can be seen as disrupting the status quo. Nobody likes change or that feeling that we are out of our element. The Disney Animated special said it best in a song from Beauty and the Beast, "We don't like what we don't understand; in fact it scares us, and the monster is mysterious at least...bring your guns and your knives, protect your children and your wives...we'll save our village and our lives, Kill the Beast!"
You hear a lot about "old school" in those communities while the infrastructure crumbles under them. You hear a great deal of resistance to immigration, where the Council tries to attract immigrants, preferably English-speaking Caucasians, who won't want to change a thing about the community and are willing to forgo everything they ever valued while at the same time, expecting them to invest their life savings into your community. I am particularly annoyed by comments that go, "When in Canada, you should act like a Canadian," assuming, of course, that everyone is Canadian the way they are Canadian.
I know there are Canadians who do not speak English in their homes, some Canadians do not celebrate the same holidays that others do, and there are different values even within the smallest population. For some reason, though, some people within those communities think they set the standard for all in the country and defend their point of view in a way that I can describe as not friendly—maybe even a little threatening.
So, when we say we are 'friendly,' are we really? And really, who needs who? We aren't having 13 babies per family anymore, and our systems are built on the need for employees. Thoughts?
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