Intolerance
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3/16/2015
Bell is a VERY small town in the backwoods South. The area is beautiful, and if you want small-town, it doesn't get much smaller than this. They don't warm up to people quickly. This can be a problem if you want to be involved in town business, be social with the locals, or even get a job. My parents lived here for 5 years before my step-father could find someone nearby who would hire him, even though he's better qualified for many jobs, just because he is not from here. My mom knows people who have lived here for 30 years and are considered 'Outsiders' because they weren't born. Living in the nearby Lake City (big enough to be called a city, but a VERY small one) makes you 'City Folk'.
Another area where you're likely to run into problems is religious differences. North Florida is the tip of the 'Deep South', and with that comes all of the racism and intolerance that are stereotypical to Southerners. There were 3 black children in my brother's graduating class. There were only a handful of kids at that same school who openly called themselves Atheist. If you openly say that you are not Christian (specifically Baptist, Protestant, or Catholic), you will be met with intolerance and hate. You will be verbally attacked, pressured to 'convert' and proselytized to.
My parents have lived here for 8 years and they like it quite a bit. BUT, they stay to themselves and don't have a lot of friends in the area, and they both have to work at least 40 minutes away from home (up to almost an hour and a half). It's also over 30 minutes in any direction to the closest grocery store, Walmart, Walgreens, department store, and movie theater.
Ali | Carrollwood, FL