The best way to upset a Canadian, in fact the only way that I know that CAN upset a Canadian, is to mistake them for Americans. (OK there are other ways too!)
Now, please, I do not set out to be offensive to anyone, and if any of my readers take umbrage at this then i am sincerely apologetic. I am not talking about ALL Canadians but more so of the stereotype. Canada is a huge country, much of which is unpopulated and some of which is unihabitable. It has a harsh climate, with hot short summers and bitterly cold long winters. Centres of populations are few and far between and between them good roads wrecked by pathetically low speed limits. There are parts of Canada that are utterly beautiful and parts that are, in the words of Marge Simpson, so very bland.
The Maple leaf flag is on display wherever there are people; i have never seen a country where there are so many flags reminding you of where you are. Maybe they are there to remind Canadians of there THEY are, or is it just a statement of - I am not American.
Some Canadians are afraid that they may become yet another American state and see a risk of being subsumed into that culture, and yet there seems little difference to the outsider between the American and Canadian ways of life. Canadians often drive American cars, the towns and cities are very much like those in the US, and they talk alike ............ Oh there is a way of distinguishing a Canook from a Yank - Listen carefully to the way they say "out".
Ok the pace of life in Canada may be slower, but that may have something to do with the long winters and the need to thaw out slowly. I cannot speak with any authority on this (or much else I know!) but I'd guess that the first flowers of spring will be the Maple leaves sprouting on the flagpoles.
I wonder what percentage of Canadians have Maple leaf logos on their underwear, just in case they get run over by a bus?
Canadian travellers all over the world are festooned with the flags, ranging in size from the tiny buttonhole variety to the full size jobs draped around shoulders or stitched carefully and lovingly to rucksacks. They are shouting to the world that they are Canadians and NOT Americans and yet maybe deep down they know that they are a part of North America and that by and large the rest of the world doesn't make much distinction and that few actually care.
Even though I will never visit again, I like Canada and most of the Canadians that I have met. They are open and warm (once they have thawed out!) and i hope that should any of them read this, that they will not take my words as a personal affront. They are just words after all and from such an inconsequential source too.
4 comments:
Watch "Bowling for Columbine" or "Sicko". There are actually some salient distinguishable features of living in Canada vs. the USA. Maybe not enough to compensate for the over-abundance of flags, mind you. But at least the flags are not a threat to health and life. Just an annoyance to other countries, for which we apologize. After all, that is what we do best!
I have seen Bowling for Columbine and of course i am aware of the differences between the American and Canadian cultures, though I believe that convergence is almost inevitable.
I admire so many aspects of Canadian culture, notably the ability to produce unique and very special singer songwriters such as Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morisette, Loreena McKennitt and Neil Young.
The flags are not an annoyance, I was simply curious as to the need to make such blatant statements of nationality. The Germans make do with towels!
The flag business started when we finally got our own after years and years and years of flying the Union Jack and singing God Save the Queen at concerts and sporting events, for some strange reason. We aren't trying so much to show that we aren't American as that we are not a British colony anymore. And for some of us, it's easier to plant a flag than a flower...flags don't need pruning and watering!
Well I am glad that at least one Canadian is standing up and being counted! :-)
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