Hey friend, how’s your day? We’ve had snow around here again today. And the temperature’s been warm enough that the storm came and the roads turned into ice. So it was a good day to stay inside. Of course that wasn’t an option, so I got to wander around while everyone remembered how to drive in these sorts of conditions. Some figured it out quicker than others. At least most of the traffic was going in slow motion, so I didn’t see a lot of real ugliness in my travels. And wonder of wonders people seemed to be behaving courteously to other drivers.
You’ve heard me say it before, I can’t count the number of times visitors have told me that they think we have some of the rudest drivers in these parts. So it looks to me like it takes nasty weather to actually bring out the kindness that we think we exhibit all the time. That would explain the doofus honking impatiently at me the other day because I had the nerve to pause for a moment and let that poor soul make that left turn. Apparently the weather was too nice.
We Canadians can be such a funny people, eh? Save our kindness for bad weather. And think of ourselves as polite. Save our helpfulness for charity. And think of ourselves as compassionate. Save our careful language for when we think people are listening. And think of ourselves as enlightened. Save our good moves for people we like. And think of ourselves as loving.
You wouldn’t know it from all of the official cheerleading going on, but we’ve slipped badly, friend. We used to be a country that ranked highly in every official measure of decency you could imagine. And one by one those measures have dropped. But as those positive realities disappear we lean harder and harder into the lies we tell ourselves.
And now I am embarrassed when I hear someone suggest we live in a truly caring society.
Ah friend, how did we come to believe such a pack of lies about ourselves? How did we ever come to think that a few good moves decades ago meant the task of creating a truly civil society was completed? And who on earth decided that it was more important to think highly of ourselves than to sit down and really figure out how to help one another.
No, in many important ways we no longer measure up to our image of ourselves.
And that is truly sad.
But no one’s interested in hearing me say we have work to do. That would be un-Canadian. So I don’t bother. Guess I’ll go finish clearing the snow. At least there I can be doing something useful. And celebrate that I can do it at all, even if it is in shifts. So there too is something positive. Meanwhile thanks for the excuse to sit for a while. Always nice to spend a few minutes with you. Write when you can. And know that I’m thinking of you.
Be well.