They’re In Short Supply This Year
I’m talking about blog posts about Canada being “the greatest country in the world”, or blog posts about “why Canada is the greatest country in the world” – I seem to remember more of them from last year, they seem to be few and far between today though.
I went through my regular reads after getting home from Parliament Hill this evening thinking I’d read at least a few of “the greatest country in the world” posts that had examples of why we are, as opposed to just writing out the words – posts that would give me a bit of a pick up, because to tell ya the truth folks, even after spending the afternoon and evening on the Hill, I just ain’t feeling it.
In retrospect it’s probably just as well I didn’t find the standard posts about “freedom and justice for all” – we don’t have that (did we ever?) and I’d probably have started an argument in the comments section over it.
Ditto for the “equality for all” meme – did we ever really have that one? Or does it just sound good, and if ya say it enough times ya start to think it’s true?
I didn’t see anything about our high standard of living either, probably a good thing – I’ve seen too much Canadian poverty, one picture of people living in a shack on the beach in the Canadian Arctic would dispel that one pdq.
Should we be proud that we’re not living in a society that’s too authoritarian or paranoid, at least not just yet…
– or that while we live in a society where segments of our population live in abject poverty and don’t even have access to decent drinking water, they are small segments and live far enough away that we don’t have to think about it too much?
– or how about being proud that our standard of living is high enough for most of society that only some of our peoples have suicide rates 7 – 10 times higher than that the majority?
– can we be proud that we’ve beaten racism? or sexual/religious intolerance?
No, it appears that they are still on the books as well.
So who is willing to offer me that little kernel of hope, that little spark of light, that just might convince me that while we may not live in “the greatest country in the world”, we do at least live in one that is significantly above mediocre.
UPDATE: Fenris Badwulf seems to be having some difficulty feeling the love as well, such is the state that we have been brought to by a succession of corrupt and greedy governments
Wait a minute… didn’t Harper say today that “Canada’s back”?
and not due to anything you mentioned .. why.. its because we’re “an energy and natural resources superpower” and because we’re helping out Haiti and Afghanistan… something we’ve been doing for years before Harper got in power.. or so I thought. Maybe I just imagined that.
I read in the paper Saturday that most Canadians identify more with their own province than with the rest of Canada and that’s pretty much where I am right now.
I don’t wish the rest of Canada any ill will or anything like that but I don’t have any particular affinity or loyalty to the ROC either.
Canada Day, or Canada for that matter, means almost nothing to me.
I think Canada’s doing great, all things considered. It definitely is one of the best places on Earth to live, come Liberals, Conservatives, NDP et al. Sure you can nitpick but compared to most of the world we’re practically Kings, even the ones making below the so-called poverty line (like moi)
I had a boat named that once, the all things considered.
The name came about because it wasn’t a great boat, and it wasn’t a fancy boat, and it wasn’t a fast boat, and it did take on a little water now and then, but, it was a useful boat, and all things considered, it usually got me where I was going.
That is Canada?
I’ll rephrase. Canada is in the top five nations to live in the world. We have the most space, beauty, quality of life, opportunity, freedom, prosperity, and we’re so goddamned nice it’s sickening to your stomach.
This Canada Day I decided there’s finally a tattoo I’d consider getting after 32 years with the same old skin I was born with: a Maple Leaf in red.
1 out of 7
Yet I have seen over crowded families living in shacks
Gotta give ya that one, we do have beauty
Some do, others do not, there is a reason that certain segments of our population have suicide rates 7-10 times the national average.
Yet so many have opportunity taken away from them
Of/From what?
Yet I have witnessed a lot of poverty
Once I might have agree’d with you, now I think we’re just used to being labeled nice, and don’t know the difference between that, and complacent about what we once may have been.
I’m a depressing sod these days ain’t I?
You should try living in the keystone province which is smack dab in the middle of this wonderful country.The East thinks of us as being in the West and West thinks of us as being on the fringe of the East.We have only a population slightly exceeding a million souls and we have pockets of every ethnicity.Every political party is represented and we have a stable economy.Our quality of life is unsurpassed.