posted by Unknown : 12:00 PM
this last christmas eve i left chicago to move to waterloo, a small city about an hour west of toronto in southern ontario. while canada is huge (enormous!) our city runs about parallel with rochester, new york. so it's cold and there is more than a bit of trudging to be done on a true winter day, but for the most part i can get by without having to wear a
balaclava -- which i have discovered is the easiest and most undeserved way to attract attention from the police.
does my move lean more toward a stab at disassociation or an effort at forging a new association? it's hard to say. moving here has marked a decision of mine to get out from under the oppressive thumb of american tabloid sensationalism. of course my world is probably run by corporate america regardless of what country i chose to call home, but i had found my young adult life in chicago governed by subscription after subscription to subscription and the politics of politics.
still, i'm no refugee, and i don't call america names.
it's just that i like canada. i like it a whole lot.
the common canadian mentality regarding foreign policy seeks to focus mainly on peace-keeping missions. "cleaning up afterwards," as more than a couple people have put it to me. but while canadian troops have been deployed to afghanistan throughout the u.s. driven war on terror to pursue the objective of helping the afghan people restore peace and stability to their country, debate in recent weeks could mark a change in the
canadian mission.
this sort of public debate without aiming at a 5-10 word soundbyte resonates with me. perhaps i find it refreshing because it comes on the heels of having ingested hour intervals of american cable news mockery nearly everyday for the last four years. or maybe it is due to the fact that people seem to regard freedom, peace and patriotism with a deeper tenderness than i am
accustomed to observing.
this tenderness extends to the respect canadians pay their veterans. every november 11 canadians observe a day of remembrance during which
poppies are worn as the reminder "of nature's ability to withstand the destructive elements of war by men, a symbol of hope in a period of human despair... traditionally the poppies [are] made by disabled veterans. they are reminders of those who died while fighting for peace: we wear them as reminders of the horrors of conflict and the preciousness of the peace they fought hard to achieve." a bit of a divergence from "these colors don't run."
admittingly, outside of the indie music scene and prior to meeting my husband, i didn't know or much care about the neighbors to the north. in fact, subconsciously i think i held canada personally responsible for the cold weather and obligatory hockey highlights on sportscenter. but it's become clear to me that the canadian inferiority complex is unnecessary, as most inferiority complexes are. sure, it remains a pain in my ass to convert celsius to fahrenheit, milligrams to pounds, and damnit, i still don't enjoy hockey highlights -- but flax seed bread, butter tarts, milk bags, ducks in my yard and the general care and consideration for thy country, neighbor and environment more than make up for it.
i love you, america, but i'm not coming back.
and tonight: the
oscars.