Tiny town

This tiny town is different from most places I have lived. Each day when I walk, I pass people who smile and say "Good Morning." or "How are you today?". There is none of the hustle and bustle of most places I have lived.
I used to live in a town where most of the people were very well off financially. They would pass and say "How ARE you today?" which seemed simply obligatory for them and another chance to sound like Kathryn Hepburn. They spent their lives worrying about losing what they had instead of noticing what they had. They spent their time doing the right thing, saying the right thing, wearing the right thing, and being controlled by the modes of the day. They were no more in control of their lives than Howdy Doody was. They were Marionettes.
This little town has several monuments to those that served in all the conflicts this country has experienced, from the Revolution to the first Gulf conflict. The same last names are on all of them. A little tiny town, somewhat insulated from the modes of the day, just flows on and on, like the river that runs through it. There is a quietness and humility here that belies the strength that lies beneath it. It is not exciting, it is just the definition of nice.