Lately. It has been a good time to reflect upon how lucky we are to be Canadians living in this magnificent country full of opportunity, beauty, and peace. A country that has been our home, a tolerant nation built by First Nations then taken over by a bunch of other guys who thought that, hey, it’s a big place: let’s send our poor, our downtrodden, our unwanted citizens and give them another chance to make it.
I happen to be a descendant of one of those who took over our country. I am also somewhat of a descendant of the First Nations population, although naturally in a convoluted way. I am even more cognizant today than ever about how we broke treaties over and over and made promises we never lived up to. How we as a society sent children to be ‘schooled’ (evidently a very loose way of stating what actually happened to these poor individuals). There isn’t much I can personally do at this point when so many years have rolled out and we are now where we are.
Where are we, exactly?
Until recently, I thought we lived in a fairly tolerant country. We aren’t perfect for sure, given how we’ve been in the past, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve on it. I thought that we lived in a multi-cultured nation that helped out others and weren’t mean spirited about it. I thought I lived in a nation that valued our position in the world order as a peace-loving place where people can be safe. Where millions of others over the years have come to and made their place in harmony with all the other checker-board nationalities that have formed us.
I find it ironic, tragically so, that given how we’ve all come to be here (First Nations people excused from this), we find ourselves arguing over letting more people in. I have read, to the point of nausea, how this tide of refugees from Syria contains pockets of hidden ISIS terrorists, wanting to propagate themselves worldwide to strike terror everywhere. How we shouldn’t take any in until we help all those already here out of poverty and every other thing striking down our ‘natural’ citizens.
Those wanting to strike terror are already here, likely. And the more we shut our borders from those truly in need, those suffering unfathomable horror at the hands of bastards that want nothing more than to establish a pecking order for their own egos at the cost of untold lives, the more likely we will foment hate from within.
Opinions really are like assholes. Everybody has them. I do. We all do. But when we let these opinions allow us to let good people die so that we can save our imagined security, we are disgracing all that being a Canadian is all about.
My father spent more than 20 years in the Armed Forces, and we lived all over. I have always been proud of what the world thought of Canadians. How we were kind, polite, tolerant, apologetic, open-minded, and inviting. I have been hearing sound bites of some not-so-polite statements about how this is a sham. How we have let ourselves be taken over by the cynics, by the 1%. By those who want us to be intolerant. Where would we be today had our forefathers thought like this?
Most of us would be in Europe, where many of these poor souls are trying to get to as we speak. All in order to stop being murdered. To have any kind of life besides the one they are suffering today. And while we sit here and debate whether we should let a few in, they die by the score.
This sure isn’t the country I grew up in. We need to smarten up….fast!
Bill's Musings 
Bill, I have to tell you that you touched my heart tonight. I have not been keeping up with things..and reading your post… is just one of many. I did not realized how much I’ve missed. This one for example…I too have heard comments from those around me… and I am saddened to think that as long as persecution is not happening here… hmmm. then we need not concern ourselves with all that is happening…over THERE. Does it take a father picking up his dead son from the shoreline…to have us thinking just a little? I was ashamed and embarrassed by those who felt this was a media stunt… to make us feel badly. When did we become so ignorant about our world…and the things that we do to one another.? Yes, I believe that we either stand for something or we fall for anything. I do hope that upon reflection… we will treat everyone in a kinder way. We have our own atrocities here with our First Nations people. Many reserves have serious basic needs… from no clean drinking water…and in particular, in Manitoba, an entire reserve has been kept in a hotel since 2012 when the homes had to be abandoned due to flooding and no accessible roads. Everything they had was abandoned at the exception of what they could put in a shopping bag…We have about twelve thousand children in care in this province, and ninety eight percent are aboriginal. We are missing the mark. It is my prayer that we will soon wake and consider other’s..We have much to do to improve the odds for those that are defenceless. As sad as it is, at least our native people are in hotels. They have a place to put their heads. It is something…though we do need to do much better by them. Our country consists of vast areas and can easily accommodate so many more. We spend money foolishly and everything seems to be for self-gratification. We need to be human and to consider all people…not just those who are our own. I did not intend on writing a blog on your commentary Bill… but you are spot on when it comes to this post. Thank you for saying so.