i suppose every person and every culture is trained to think that they're way is the right way. Why would we do it that way if we didn't believe in it? Canadians are no different from the rest of earth's population in that sense.
The end of one year and the start of another has got me thinking lately tho. Is it possible that some of the core beliefs we hold as Canadians could be off?
I first experienced this with our top two National love interests - hockey and Tim Hortons.
For years I took my coffee with milk and there was no way I would ever drink the sludge other coffee shops produced. I needed my double double from Timmies. Seattle could keep it's devil woman logo and it's over priced fancy coffee. Then about 6 years ago when i developed lactose intolerance and my coffee went black, it all changed. My eyes were opened to the horrible aftertaste of a black Tim's coffee, and all the wonderful richness that Starbucks produces came alive to me. Now I have the SB app on my phone, the coffee in m house, and the coffee maker and and and. I saw the light and I went running.
Same thing watching the NHL playoffs a few years ago. It started to become much clearer to me that regardless of how good a team was, a hot goalie seems to win the Stanley Cup ever freaking year. Lebron can lose a championship, and Brady goes down regularly by better team performances too, but it's frustrating when Jonathan Quick or Cory Crawford get hot and Sidney Crosby has no chance. I really try to like hockey... it just loses me. I'm watching the NBA playoffs and game 48 of the MLB season in May long before i turn on an NHL game.
I know - revoke my maple flavoured Canadian Passport post haste.
So what about those things less frivolous? Things like housing, marriage/family, education? Is it possible that we don't have the market cornered on all those things for sure either?
This is one of the only cultures in the world that doesn't have multiple generations of family living in the same home. I'm not saying I'm ready to have the in-laws move in tomorrow, but is there something we miss be being so segregated? Do we foster a greater degree of selfishness? Just thoughts.
We have reduced love and marriage to waiting until you individually discover "the right one", and you will know who the "right one" is when "you just know"... usually meaning a queasy feeling in your stomach. How many centuries did a person's family pick their souse for them, or at least become intricately involved in that process. Again - glad I got to pick my own wife, but are our marriages better and lasting longer this way? Are we more happy as families than in previous years or in other cultures?
Globalization is a wonderful opportunity for each of us to learn, be stretched and grow as human beings. I think Canada has a lot to teach the world. Our kindness, our inclusiveness and our many wonderful flavours of potato chips not found elsewhere. I hope 2014 is a year when I am not so arrogant that I can't learn from other cultures as well. j
The end of one year and the start of another has got me thinking lately tho. Is it possible that some of the core beliefs we hold as Canadians could be off?
I first experienced this with our top two National love interests - hockey and Tim Hortons.
For years I took my coffee with milk and there was no way I would ever drink the sludge other coffee shops produced. I needed my double double from Timmies. Seattle could keep it's devil woman logo and it's over priced fancy coffee. Then about 6 years ago when i developed lactose intolerance and my coffee went black, it all changed. My eyes were opened to the horrible aftertaste of a black Tim's coffee, and all the wonderful richness that Starbucks produces came alive to me. Now I have the SB app on my phone, the coffee in m house, and the coffee maker and and and. I saw the light and I went running.
Same thing watching the NHL playoffs a few years ago. It started to become much clearer to me that regardless of how good a team was, a hot goalie seems to win the Stanley Cup ever freaking year. Lebron can lose a championship, and Brady goes down regularly by better team performances too, but it's frustrating when Jonathan Quick or Cory Crawford get hot and Sidney Crosby has no chance. I really try to like hockey... it just loses me. I'm watching the NBA playoffs and game 48 of the MLB season in May long before i turn on an NHL game.
I know - revoke my maple flavoured Canadian Passport post haste.
So what about those things less frivolous? Things like housing, marriage/family, education? Is it possible that we don't have the market cornered on all those things for sure either?
This is one of the only cultures in the world that doesn't have multiple generations of family living in the same home. I'm not saying I'm ready to have the in-laws move in tomorrow, but is there something we miss be being so segregated? Do we foster a greater degree of selfishness? Just thoughts.
We have reduced love and marriage to waiting until you individually discover "the right one", and you will know who the "right one" is when "you just know"... usually meaning a queasy feeling in your stomach. How many centuries did a person's family pick their souse for them, or at least become intricately involved in that process. Again - glad I got to pick my own wife, but are our marriages better and lasting longer this way? Are we more happy as families than in previous years or in other cultures?
Globalization is a wonderful opportunity for each of us to learn, be stretched and grow as human beings. I think Canada has a lot to teach the world. Our kindness, our inclusiveness and our many wonderful flavours of potato chips not found elsewhere. I hope 2014 is a year when I am not so arrogant that I can't learn from other cultures as well. j
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