Why I am Relentlessly Optimistic About Everything
DISCLOSURE: I am a Canadian citizen living in Canada.
The average Canadian might not be able to tell you the names of every last Prime Minister we ever had, but she likely could tell you something about what it was like for her parents growing up in Canada, maybe even for her grandparents.
Why are Canadians so hospitable? Probably because we know things don’t always make sense and we accept that. When the Conservatives were in power in Ottawa, a lot of people complained. Many still complain about the era even though now it’s the Liberals who are in power.
In Canada, you vote, wait to see the results, then you go to bed and the next day you wake up and get back to work. We know that we don’t have a perfect system and we accept that. We are a hopeful people, though, a proud people with faith in our leaders, even if we complain and gossip about them amongst ourselves.
Most of us had family members at some point who fought in “the war”. Younger generations such as myself might not always understand what’s going on in the world, but as previously stated, we have faith that our leaders do.
We complained about the Conservatives when they were in power and still do. Yet while I’m not their biggest partisan, I can tell you that they took good care of us. There was really not much civil unrest, the banks were doing okay, the economy maybe wasn’t super great, but it wasn’t all that bad either. And they were really great at representing us diplomatically abroad. They even innovated in the realm of diplomacy, creating a brand new, never before seen, form of international diplomacy called economic diplomacy. So on the whole they did pretty good.
Now it’s the Liberal Party that is in power. Have they solved all of the world’s problems? Not yet. Have they fulfilled ALL of their promises to us constituents? Not yet. Is that acceptable? Of course it is. 100 years ago most of us were still riding around on horse and buggy, living on farms. I exaggerate but it’s still true.
Are there terrible social and economic problems in Canada? Of course there are, like everywhere else. Is there pain and suffering amongst the indigenous populations? Of course there is. Is it dire? In many cases it is extremely dire. Can we do better? Of course we can. Do we have faith that we will pull through?
That last question brings me to the point I wanted to make, on why I am relentlessly optimistic. It’s because I’m Canadian. We are a relatively small population made up of people who have been through every kind of tough situation you can think of. That’s why we can afford the costs of bringing in refugees in large numbers. Is it going to be easy to help people integrate into Canadian society who came from a somber, war-torn place? No. It will be very hard work. Are Canadians up to the challenge? Absolutely. Are we going to do an amazing job, better than anyone ever anticipated? Of course we will, we are Canadian.
Canada has been through a lot. Hopefully 2017 will refresh people’s memories a little bit, here and abroad. Canada is a great country, a great place to be. Things are peaceful here. But there’s still lots of work to be done and we shouldn’t waste any more time. It’s time to get back to work, Canada. Winter is icumen.
A.G. (c) 2016. All Rights Reserved.
