You remind  me of a story I heard a long time ago:

A train arrived at the station and a man got off.    He noticed an old  man setting on a bench near the office.   

"How are the people in this town?".   
The old man replied, "How were the people in the town you came from?"   
"They were terrible!"
"They are terrible here, too".    The man got back on the train.

Another man decended to the platform from the next car.  Seeing the old man he asked the same question the first man asked.   The old man asked the second man the same question he asked the first man.
"They were very friendly!  It is a marvelous town and I hated to leave!", replied the second man.
"People are friendly here, too!", replied the old man.
"Wonderful!", said the second man, "I shall enjoy it here!"

A third individual had watched the old man respond to both men, and after they left he asked "How can you say this town is both friendly and hateful?"

"Because," said the old man, "a town is what you bring to it.  It reflects what you are."