Oh Canada!

I just watched the singing of the Canadian national anthem for the Vancouver/Montreal hockey game and as I was standing there in the middle of my living room, yes I'm one of those rare birds that stands when our anthem is played, it occured to me what Canada is. While the singer was singing those famous wonderful words "Thy sons command..." all of a sudden he stopped singing and turned to the crowd in Vancouver and then it all made sense. 30,000+ people all singing in unison OUR national anthem, not Quebec's, not the Liberal's, not the Conservative's. Not an attack from one political party to another, no what I heard as the shivers ran all the way down the back on my neck and tears welled up in my eyes is what true national unity means, one country, one amazing fantastic huge expanse of a people that are intelligent, resourceful, brave, proud while at the same time having a worldwide acceptance and global friendship. From the hard-working fisherman on the East coast, to the Montreal restauranteur, to the up and coming young computer scientist in Ottawa, to the energetic and frenzied stock broker in Toronto, to the last of the real-life cowboys in Alberta and finally to the hip graphic artist in Vancouver, they all share one wonderful thing in common that my friends MUST not be taken for granted, we live in a wonderful, free country! I can't stress enough and particularly at this point when we are just a few days from a very important election in the history of our country, that we live in a great country that must not be allowed to sink to the depths that I have been seeing on the political ads and in the rethoric that I saw in the political debates. So on January 23rd, go out and vote, vote for whoever you want and whomever shares your point of view, that is the very essence and beauty of this country is that you can actually vote your conscience and your true feelings, that my friends is something that 3/4 of the world's population CAN NOT do! I'll get off the podium now, but thanks for allowing me this little space and my little voice to shout out.

OH Canada I love you!

"This blog has not been brought to you by any political party, but by a very pationate and great lover of this beautiful, huge wonderful country."