When I was a youngin' there wasn't much in the way of Canadian patriotism. Sure we were proud, and sure people knew we were good, but we didn't talk about it. We were told by our parents and teachers that we lived in one of the best countries in the world, and we truly believed that, but we didn't flaunt it, neither to each other, nor to people we met from outside our world's longest unprotected border.
As I got older, our national patriotism grew stronger. I remember buying my first piece of merchandise with a cuss-word on it. A plastic hackey sack that said "Canada Kicks Ass" on it. I kept it hidden from my mother, but I was always quite proud of it. I felt Canadians were becoming more badass and in a roundabout way made me feel more badass. We were the largest country in the world after the USSR was disolved. We have the longest unprotected border. We have the worlds longest coastline. We have the Magnetic Hill, we have a huge Nickel, the Rocky Mountains, The Tragically Hip, Leonard Cohen.
We invented without a doubt basketball, and arguably hockey. We made the Canadarm used on NASA space missions. We invented the caulking gun, the Blackberry, the Goalie Mask, insulin, and arguably the greatest invention, The Poutine, both Quebecois, and Acadian.
Our patriotism has grown leaps and bounds. We're still not as over the top and gawdy as our neighbors to the south, but we're proud of who we are and of what we've done, and what we continue to do. We help, but we don't take over. We're there when you need us, but we're gracious enough to wait til we're asked.
We're Canadian. We're the true north, strong and free. We're resilient, we're smart, we're modest, and we're the greatest country on this planet. I'm a proud Canadian. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. It's a bit dorky, I'll admit but I wouldn't have it any other way.
