When I happened not to think as the people of the town had done for the past 50 years, I got a lot of bullying.

Ah--you, too, have been a victim of the "(S)He's not like us--let's get 'im" way of thinking. I really wonder what makes us that way, sometimes. I also wonder how many
'would-have-been-greats' have been stifled, due to that kind of repression.

But, thank you for your clarification; that helped. One of the things I am working on learning as I age is that
people of all kinds have real value. I confess, and this is not at all to my credit, that I have always tended to de-value people who are unintelligent. But, as I go through my life, I have been shown that there are MANY other valuable contributions, that I would be very much worse off without. I'll give a couple of examples. I know of a man and wife, neither of whom is smart at all in the academic sense, and there is an alcohol problem, to boot.
But as I have observed over the years, I realize that if there is ANYTHING that needs to be done, they are there.
Furthermore, they are the first to give money to a worthy cause, even though their income is so low they were in danger of losing their house. They say "ain't" and "he don't", but they are good people. One of my dearest friends here is also not the brightest person in the world,
but this lady has an instinct about people like you wouldn't believe. She is always aware of undercurrents in a relationship, and their significance. And I, with all my professional training in these matters, am clueless (at times).

So, my dear, perhaps as you gain experience, too, you will
learn to appreciate what is good about the people you came from. I'm betting on it.