Today, Canada turns 142. Happy birthday, Canada.
Canadians are a quiet bunch. We look at our friends to the south, and we shake our heads at how crazy they get around their Independence Day. It’s a especially a problem, because their day is only a few days after ours, and we seem to get overshadowed by the celebrations that take place all across America. Heck, Americans are patriotic every day of the year, not just on July 4th. That would be pushing it for most Canadians!
But not me. I am proud to be Canadian. Very proud. I love displaying my nationality and am very clear that there is no better country to live in than Canada. I love visiting other countries, and am always overwhelmed with the respect and admiration other people have for Canadians.
I ride a Harley. An American made Harley. A lot of my friends ride them too. And every time I see one of them with a U.S. flag on their vest or their bike, I shake my head. “You’re not American, put a Canadian flag on your vest!” A few years ago, I came a cross a patch with the Harley Eagle holding both Canadian and American flags. I loved it! It’s on my vest. Because it has the Canadian flag. When people say to me, “I ride a Harley because it’s American made … not those Metric bikes.” I tell them to move to America then.
Yeah, I’m Canadian. I’m proud to be Canadian. Because I love this country. Where else can you go and see the diversity that you can see in Canada. Want to see mountains? We got ‘em. Plains? We have them here. Beautiful, clean lakes? Yup. Oceans? You’ll find them. Massive forest? Here. Snow? In some places, all year round. Let’s face it, we’ve got it all.
And then there’s the people. Canadians. Polite, friendly, “eh” saying Canadians. We do a lot of stupid things, but in the end, the rest of the world knows one thing about Canadians: you can count on them. Canadians are often the first to jump in to help those on the world stage. Yes, we were there before the Americans during the big wars. Yes, we were a fierce fighting machine. But we also come in with a massive amount of compassion. We’ll keep the peace when no one else does. When everyone else is freaking out, we stay calm.
Yeah, I love this country. I love everything about it. I love that this is where I was born. A Centennial Baby.
It’s my country. I am Canadian.
