Those DownEast folk

Today, Julia and I headed to Popham Beach. Firstly because it was close to my job, of which I seem to be unable to leave unattended for even a day. Second because there were no rides. I've never been a fan of Popham Beach. I've never been a fan of the ocean before the last few years. Popham was remote, it was archaic, boring, and lacking in basic necessities....like...well, a real toilet. Today, I still fret about the lack of a real toilet, and nothing but Lucifer himself could make me have to use the overdue-for-a-cleaning-outhouses. So I held my pee, sucked it up to fate, and looked around with an objective eye.
Popham is beautiful. The sand is soft, clean, and great for building sand forts and whatnot. We didn't get there until 4-ish when all threat of a sunburn was gone, and arrived just in time for low tide, so that we could walk out to the island. Aside from the giant, prehistoric, man-eating flies...I couldn't have asked for a more picturesque and relaxing location. We climbed the rock, we walked in the surf, I relaxed on the blanket while Julia made sure every crack in her body was full of sand. What have I been missing all those years?
Then we left. It was sundown, and the people from away were packing up to head back to their campgrounds, and rental houses. We were insulted by one of the said tourists who perceived we had committed some lackadaisical faux-pas of leaving the foot rinser turned on (it was stuck). She also saw my daughter wearing a towel, and assumed the bathing suit which was littering the fountain was ours. I finally turned and said "Ma'am, we're natives, not tourists, and we care for our landscape more than the people from away that did that." Then I gave her my back and left. Probably not a great way to spread love and cheer from the State of Maine to our beloved tourist industry.
It did occur to me tho, on the car ride back, that I'm the one that doesn't really fit into the whole downeast landscape. It is a totally different personality, and the people do seem very foreign there. I am french, but I am educated, have lived outside of Maine, and STILL, I seem to be able to succumb to the plebeian attitudes of so many to the people of Lewiston/Auburn. Is it the socio-economic differences? Does the fact that I grew up in a house that had to mix powdered milk with whole milk to make it last a week make me less able to accept the fact that my status NOW is equal to or great than many of the Downeasters that have said attitude? Is the Lewiston/Auburn community denigrated simply because the median income is 20,000 less per year than our friends a short distance away in Topsham, Brunswick, and Bath?
Anywho...the attitudes against different parts of the state from Mainers and People From Away alike still exists, much like racism still exists in America. I believe that in order for Maine to prosper as a State, we've got to confront and get past these ridiculous prejudices.
Off to bed now...too tired to fret anymore!