It’s fascinating how much of our sense of self is tied up in where (and when) we exist. Move even a few towns over, and it’s not just your environment that changes – you do.
If you, with your exact same genetic code, had been born 500 years in the past, you’d be a completely different person now. You couldn’t just map your experiences one-to-one onto that distant time; if you’re a florist now, you can’t assume you’d be a different variety of florist then. A million things happened in your life to get you to that spot, and those things wouldn’t have happened if you’d lived 500 years in the past. Or even 50 years in the past, or 50 miles up the road.
When someone new comes to your town, they’re a changeling. They’re experiencing a new world, not just new street names. You’re a part of that new experience, one piece of the new identity forming around them. So be kind!
The Opportunity Machine 