Barking Space

Canadian Appreciation Week – A Quick Thank You

I’ve been horrible. I never referenced the people that started this whole activity.

A big round of applause should go out to Bluemichy and Canadianprariegirl for their warm idea of paying homage to our country.

While I haven’t done everything exactly according to plan, I do admire people that implement good ideas (more on this later).

Photographia Canadiana

In the spirit of being a day behind, I exascerbate the loathing felt towards my horrible punctuality by not even posting any photos here.

Again, I do have a website of photographs, and most of them are taken in Canada.

While everywhere in the world has beauty, I love the feeling I get when I take a photo of a maple leaf. I’m a big softie that way.

So, let’s play a game. Go visit my photography page, go to the galleries, and see if you can tell me where all the photographs of landscapes were taken.

I mean, it should be pretty easy.

You can write your guesses in the comments section like so: Gallery 1, 2nd photo from the top, Toronto, Ontario

Bonus points if you can be even more specific than that.

Canadianisms

Here in Canada, we have so many attributes that others from all over the world point out…

• Patience
• Friendliness
• Willingness to Help
• High Tolerance to Alcohol
• Military Micropower
• Not American

This list is small, and only a few of those items are true.

Rather than go into the typical writ of Canadianisms, I will list the various types of people you will find in Canada that call themselves Canadian (special thanks to Dave for help with this list)…

The Canucklehead – This is the typical, beer-swilling, laid-back person you all know and love. Always in a toque and jeans, this loveable soul finishes all sentences with the typical ‘eh’. You’ll usually find this person on a patio somewhere, drinking Keiths and talking about Hockey or politics. Oh wait, those are the same thing…

The Homesicker – These are people that immigrated to Canada for a better life, and yet do nothing but talk about how awesome their home country was in comparison. Frankly, I don’t understand why these people are here when they are obviously so in love with their previous home. Pride is one thing, but dissing your current locale is not cool.

Alienated Easterner – Perhaps French. Perhaps not. Well, nix the ‘perhaps not’. Separatism is always a threat we Canadians face. Québec leaving would really suck. I don’t know how some people there can feel unappreciated when so many from other provinces flock to Québec to get away from it all. I, personally, have never come into contact with any disgruntled Québecois. I just hear about them on the news and from friends who like to make up stories.

Self-Important West – Again, I don’t think I’ve ever come across anyone from the West who wasn’t friendly and patriotic about the whole country. I wonder if the media makes up stories about how the West takes its financial success too seriously. Seriously enough to want to be their own country. How would they defend themselves? The HMS Haida is in Hamilton! Isn’t that our only defence?

AIA – The Americans In Awe. I have met people from this group. They are folks from South of the border who move up here for a better life and find it. Mind you, these people moved up when one american dollar could buy a thousands-square-foot house in the rich neighbourhoods in any major Canadian city. It’s nice to see people that appreciate the country though. Refreshing.

The Chinese – Probably the largest visible ethnic group [Thank you, Captain Obvious – Dave]. I honestly believe that Canada should be called Chinada. Take a cross section of my friends, for instance, and you’ll find that half of them are Chinese. I hear a lot of people complaining about Hong Kong money and rich kid syndrome and such. However, these ‘rich folks’ were unfairly put to work ages ago building railroads and suffering. Now a lot of them are highly successful because of hard work, either from where they came from or right here (or both!). All of my Chinese friends appreciate living here. Folks from India run a close second in sheer volume and friendliness. Europe is third.

Rick Mercer – ‘Nuff said.

Overly Sensitive People – People that take offence to things in this entry that aren’t meant to offend anyone. Read carefully!

That’s my list. There are many other ethnic groups and such, but this isn’t meant to be a serious entry (except for perhaps the parts that speak of my appreciation for certain things).

A Final Word About the Hug Syndrome

I’ve been noticing people posting long comments usually made up primarily of the word hug.

This is just plain annoying. I referred earlier to good ideas. This hug thing is a bad idea.

I understand the intentions are good, and that people are trying to spread love.

But honestly, I think most people would appreciate that the comments would have something to do with the article they worked hard to write.

I don’t mind the word hug. I’m just saying that maybe there can be some substance to a comment, rather than a simple cut-and-paste message.

Honestly, though, someone’s gotta say something.

People begin to glower at Jorge, thinking him the Grinch of Spaces….

Filed under: General Dialogue, Ponderings, Rants, Spaces Archive | 19 Comments »