Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – July 1, 2004

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – July 1, 2004 

Canada Day

Short Stories From 10 Years Ago – July 1, 2004 – Happy 137^th. Canada. People across this vast and beautiful land take to the streets today to celebrate the birthday of a great nation. Maple leaf flags fly everywhere, ceremonies are staged in Ottawa and in our provincial capitals. It’s a day to honour our good fortune, our freedom, our diversity and tolerance.

It’s a day to be proud of our heritage and what Canada stands for on the world stage. We are not aggressors – we are mediators. We are considered fair minded and just. Canadians are liked around the world. We are an interesting mix of our British ancestry (the stiff upper lip) and a home grown awe shucks shyness. We’re the last to blow our own horn. We’re not braggarts, loud or in your face. We have a collective quiet, fair, proud and strangely apologetic nature.

There is nowhere in the world I’d rather live. I like to visit other places but I’m always ready to come back home. My roots are here. My ancestors worked hard on farms, in factories, as tradesmen, businessmen and professionals to establish a life in Canada. My parents were proud Canadians and I’ve inherited their love of and respect for my country.

The recognition of our birth as a nation started life in a proclamation by Governor General, Lord Monck on June 20, 1868, signed to celebrate Canada’s first anniversary. A statute signed in 1879 named it Dominion Day. It remained thus until October 27, 1982 when Dominion Day was officially changed to Canada Day. It is a welcome, long holiday week-end that ushers in our summer slow down and gives Canadians an opportunity to publicly acknowledge our wonderful country and wave our flags in salute to this amazing land.

I slept in this morning and then spent the better part of the morning and early afternoon lounging in my garden. I am getting such joy out of watching the birds at the feeder. They no longer fear my presence and are quite bold as they swoop down and land on the feeder and the bushes surrounding it – not five feet away from where I sit. They jockey for position on the lower feeding ring and have air fights and great fits of squawking and name calling (I’m guessing) in bird language.

I’ve only attracted sparrows so far, but they are sweet and energetic and funny. A flock of about twenty have found the feeder and they seem to be planning their days around visits to the Sparrow Café. No complaints so far that the menu is always the same – black sun flower seeds that they have to crack open to eat. I bring the feeder in about nine o’clock at night and put it back out about eight-thirty in the morning. This routine seems to suit them just fine. I’m hoping that the feeder will attract some Blue Jays and Cardinals as the summer progresses – but if it doesn’t – that’s okay too.

I have a very persistent black squirrel who has not been able to get at the feeder, so he satisfies himself sitting under it picking up the seeds that the birds inevitably drop. I think I’ll put out a bowl of black sunflower seeds for him tomorrow, an acknowledgment of his unrewarded, but nonetheless earnest efforts to reach the bird feeder. It’s just out of his reach and he sits and scolds it with great enthusiasm after every failed leap. I’ve named him “Trouble”.

I had a snooze about one o’clock and then made my way up to the Danforth to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables for the week-end. The street was crowded with people waving Canadian and Greek flags. I asked a shop keeper about the throngs of people and was told that the semi-final soccer game between Greece and Czechoslovakia was tied at zero and the final penalty kick was in the offing. Greece won as I emerged from the green grocer and the street erupted in a mad frenzy of flag waving and cheering. I could easily in Athens rather than Toronto.

One Of The Most Recognized And Respected Flags In The World

Fortunately I was parked on a side street and I made my way through the throng of enthusiastic fans, with a few jostles and bumps, but relatively unscathed. I thought about the cosmopolitan nature of this great land and of the people who make their way to our shores in search of a better existence. A life free from persecution and fear where one’s voice is not silenced by brutality and corruption. I can’t imagine the courage it takes to pack up your possessions and leave the country of your birth, with the hope that life will improve.

Freedom is a gift, all too often taken for granted by those of us who have never known persecution. In the hustle of a busy life, it’s easy to forget our good fortune. I’m thrilled to see parents out with their children. Kiddies walking around with faces painted like the Canadian flag and moms and dads with flags in their hats or stuck through their hair.

We need to always recognize our country’s birth, to be thankful for this glorious land of ours, and to remember the men and women who fought for her, so we would never know oppression. May she always be “The true north strong and free” and may we always “stand on guard for her” Happy Birthday Canada!