Today I had a revealing interchange with a fellow Texan. He was pick up two bags of ice from the freezer in front of the local convenience store. I instinctively held the door for him. He thanked me but said he was not going inside. I nodded and went inside.
Then it dawned on me why Texas is different from Massachusetts from which I fled. In Massachusetts few people would hold the door open for another person nor would anyone in Massachusetts be likely to thank me for holding the door for them. But that was not what struck me as the important difference.
I realized that here in Texas people pay for their ice and then pick it up from the cooler outside which is unlocked. In Massachusetts, the cooler is locked. When a person purchases ice one of the people from the convenience store unlocks the cooler, lets the person have the ice they purchased and locks the cooler.
In short, not only are people here more refined and friendly, they are also more honest than the jamokes living in Massachusetts.
Sounds like my kind of place. My kids have often told me that I was born way too far north. Texas and I would be a real good fit.
Only been out of Texas once. Took a plane with some friends who were sent to Boston by their company to a special instruction school of some sort.
I found it very strange and foreign to me.
Could hardly understand a word anyone said.
Found most I ran into rather cold and unfriendly..I was so glad to get back to Texas.
(but I did enjoy seeing all the old historical places I’d only read about)
I live in Maine and I always hold the door open for people, especially women of all ages.
They always thank me. One older woman once asked me, “Are you married?” LOL
The smaller mom and pop type markets have bags of ice outside in freezers that are not locked, much like what you described in Texas.
Those differences are even felt in closer distances. Same thing between where I lived in LA County, and here the ice container where I live in the hills of Orange County is unlocked.
I love this country most of all for the people. People who mostly do not have a phony social “front” to them. Where the language is the same whether you’re talking to the homeless guy or the CEO, no “formal” or “upper class” forms of language. People who mostly identify with each other, no matter how different. People who share personal details with strangers, and try to make others feel comfortable.
I learned to love this country more by living outside of it.