[PugMom]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

I've heard this from some other people. Odd thing is, I haven't experienced it. Not even once. It is pretty safe to say that my wife and I probably have more non-Villager friends, than we do IN The Villages. In fact we're taking care of a farm for the next two weeks for a couple who we are friends with, while they are gone. It is a relaxing, refreshing change from Villages life (though in honesty anything more than two weeks would be more suited to a much younger man).

People tend to see what they are conditioned to see. If someone expects to see non-Villagers as "angry, jealous have-nots", then it is pretty sure that that is what they WILL see. For myself, I try to see people for what they are, and not according to some stereotype or other. The locals I've met have been warm, sincere, down-to-earth folks who have a refreshing honesty. Some of them were a bit circumspect upon first meeting (I suppose stereotypes work both ways, and my Minnesota accent is as good as wearing a sign), but it didn't take long at all for that to disappear.

People are people. Ignoring the stereotypes while giving each other the benefit of the doubt is by far the more rewarding way to go.

EXCELLENT reply