My Own Opinion
My life has been fairly uneventful from an external perspective. Yes, I went to India and did an M.A. there. That was great. And I probably remember that far more vividly than others who have traveled around the world to countless places and who still do today.
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| A thin or "reduced," as the Bengalis said, version of me in India in the 1980s |
Before India, life was pretty simple. Summers at Georgian Bay. Winters skiing at Collingwood Ontario. We just were not a traveling family.
Part of me resented that as I grew older. How I would have loved to have gone to England as a kid. Or some other such place.
My parents began to travel (sans kids) when I was old enough to be left alone with my elder siblings. And they really took off, so to speak, when my dad retired, doing volunteer work through CESO all across central and Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
But for me, my big trips were to India and Nepal. To get a taste of other times and places, I've become a voracious travel video and history docs watcher. My imagination and extrapolating from the TV screen is all I got. It's enough. And now at age 62, I don't want all the hassle of physical travel.
So what does this have to do with the thought of the USA taking over Canada?
Well, just before embarking on a B.A. at Trent University, Ontario, I dated someone who had traveled through Europe and who generally liked the idea of travel. We skipped "Intro Week" at the U. and instead drove down in my beat-up Plymouth Scamp to the States to do some hiking. It was a great experience. She knew where we were going and had relatives in America, so the trip was easy to navigate.
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| Lake Placid, New York |
One stop we made was at Lake Placid, New York. Upon entering a New Age book and music store I told the middle-aged lady behind the counter we were from Toronto, Canada as I purchased the Brian Eno record Atmospheres and Soundtracks.
The lady invitingly said, "Why don't you just join us?"
"Well, we sort of like our own country," I replied politely with a smile in true 1980s Canadian style.
The lady meant it in the nicest possible way as if to say, You're such good people, you're worthy of becoming one of us, the greatest nation on Earth.
Leaving the store we continued our drive through little towns with brightly painted white fences, flags galore, and patriotic statues at every town center.
On returning to Canada I gave a sigh of relief. It was like 10,000 pounds had just dropped off my shoulders and I could enjoy the low-key highways of Canada again.
I've been to other parts of the USA by car and always marvel at the hyper-charged energy, overall population density, and sometimes icky lakes and parks of that country, and how tranquil and reserved things feel upon returning to my own country.
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| The Trans-Canada Highway |
One American called Toronto a "sleepy" town. I guess if you are thrilled by mega billboards and lots of action, it is. Another called Canada, "civilized boredom with nasty weather." But I think many Americans just don't get the subtle pleasures of being a Canadian living in Canada.
I'm not just talking about our second-to-none multiculturalism. To me, there is a sublime spiritual element here that I just haven't found in most - but not all - Americans I've met. Many Americans, to generalize, seem like kindergarten students when it comes to spirituality. Even the American New Agers and paranormal crowd tend to have a rudimentary, heavy-handed approach.
And that's partly why I don't think - to put it bluntly - we should stoop to their level. Sure America is big and splashy. But that's all ephemeral stuff. When it comes to what really matters, we might need the subtler Canadian mind and other countries like Canada to steer our global ship into the 21st century and beyond.
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