Melting Pot

I wish I could say that I have a melting pot of ideas brewing this morning but it is the exact opposite. I have a few thoughts here and there but all are inappropriate for family viewing, so to speak. I’m sitting here with my hair all on end, nibbling my cheese toast and sipping a good cup of coffee and trying to come up with something funny. Nadda, zip, zero.

Well, actually there is something which I have been observing at work over the last few months. I’ve been noticing it more frequently lately and that is the fact that whenever Canada writes a story for our news page the next day we get a story from Houston. There is a real rivalry going on (in my mind anyway) between Canada and the USA on our information page. I have to laugh every morning when I see a new story as I feel as though both countries are waving their hands to the mothership saying “look at me, look at me, look what I’m doing, aren’t I great”.

Just generally speaking (nothing to do with our company) Canadians will always be the poor cousin to the Americans. We Canadians are so meek and mild and so terribly polite that we will never shove ourselves in front of the bus, so to speak. Americans still have this notion that all of Canada is covered with snow. I’ve noticed in the last few years that a lot of the American shows will reference Canada (as though we’ve suddenly come on their radar) and they are mostly disparaging comments. Law and Order, for instance, always seems to have some criminal element coming out of Canada. NCIS had a character go to Saskatchewan for a vacation and that became the butt of derisive remarks. I think this attack on Canada comes from the 9/11 accusations that Canada has been lax in letting criminals get into the USA. Hmmm, seems to me that it’s the Americans who are on the border as You Go In to the States. How can that be our fault? (yes, I know the rest of the story, but still????)

Americans always want to be first, they always want to be the greatest, they sure don’t understand modesty. They know everything about everything, so much so that their Hollywood movie stars can come up here to our pristine mountains and while they are vacationing they can tell us what to do about our environment. Excuse me, you are a guest in our country, don’t you think it’s a bit rude to tell us what we are doing wrong? Oh that’s right, we are Canadians, we marry our cousins and therefore we are dumber than donkeys. No need to use manners “up here”. Really?

Lest anyone admonition me for using a sweeping brush to paint all Americans with the same colour, let me acknowledge that not all Americans are ignorant and rude. But there are an awful lot of them that are, and they are kind of annoying. I’m Canadian and I’m proud of my country. When I go to Europe, South America or Cuba I get “We love Canadians” a lot. I’m pretty sure that Americans don’t get that comment. I’m pretty sure Canada is the best country in the world – yep. I’m sure.