You know what I don’t get myself enough credit for any more? I wake up in the morning, i step outside, and right now i’m greeted with cold breeze that’s often accompanied by a delicious coffee that from what i gather is free trade worth from some country overseas i know enough about to suggest that It’s better that way. I put on nice clothes, i eat a breakfast made with eggs from a farm found a few hours away. My grandfather fought a war i know enough about to suggest that it’s one of the worst the worlds ever seen. He knew fighting was for more than just king and country, he knew he was fighting to protect his lifestyle, his family, his brothers and sisters, and a world he had grown accustomed to. His ship left port waving two flags proudly as it brought supplies to a country getting strangled because of blockades and torpedos. He stepped on a boat knowing there was a good chance he might never be able to run his hands through the soil that welcomed him to into this world. I fly in airplanes made by a country that sends it’s workers to their jobs using public transportation paid for by roughly three dollars easily found between couch cushions. Hell, that couch is probably made of leather. I meet people every day of different races and cultures, who have different stories and different struggles that have made them who they are and defined where they’re standing. I have cable, which i barely watch, but knowing the luxury is there when i need it is comforting. Sometimes when i’m hungry, i eat. Sometimes when i’m not hungry… i’ll still eat. I use my phone to text my girlfriend who lives across an ocean because i can afford to pay the bill that accompanies it… with a job i’m fortunate enough to have, achieved through the access of education and a university degree.
I guess what i’m trying to get at here is that I’m fucking proud to be Canadian. I’m proud of the people i know, and so unbelievably grateful when i have the chance to see our flag proudly displayed atop whatever structure is honoured to hold it. Canada Day last year i was standing in a field in some small town that surrounds Ottawa, listening to K’naan perform his song ‘Waiving Flag’ watching everyone around standing silently, with drinks in their hand, in their drunken stupors, paying respect to a country that has seen itself through century’s worth of shitty situations, losing brave people who still to this day fight and die because they’re told that it’s for their freedom, their families and their neighbours. No, i don’t stand in the way of bullets because that’s what this country needs me to do, I wake up every morning knowing i’m fucking honoured, and privileged to be born in such a beautiful and well developed place. So as you sit there, reading this on your computer screens, in the comfort of your warm home, hidden away from the elements, with an assumingly full stomach, remember that being Canadian wasn’t something that you were entitled to. It was by pure fucking fluke that you were born here instead of a third world country where getting water is a day’s journey, and if you eat a handful of times this week you’re considered ‘well-to-do’. Remember that people fought and fucking died so you can sit there with your creature comforts, things you believe you have the ‘right’ to own. Yes, i sit here on my laptop writing this with my Starbucks in hand, but I can tell you one thing. I love my fucking country and i’m proud to be Canadian, and if my country called, I’d answer.
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ianlaplante said:
You’re not allowed to go to war. I’m pulling the best friend card. *Drops microphone, exists stage right*
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thisisnathans posted this
