It Pays to be Hospitable
I was living in Eastern Canada when terrorists attacked buildings and people in the United States on September 11th, 2001. Almost every airplane that was in the air over North America at that time had to land wherever they could ASAP. The USA closed its airspace, forcing planes that where had US destinations to land in Canada.
Many passenger jets landed in Atlantic Canada. I was just reading excerpts from a book that detailed the experience of a small town of 10,000 Newfoundlanders that played host to 6,000 passengers for several days. Newfoundlanders pride themselves on their hospitality.
Many people who had every reason to be very upset about being stranded in Gander as the result of that horrible incident left there with a lot of warm feeling for the residents. Many of them have returned in the intervening years.
