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Posted By: Amanda Syme Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 09:40 PM
one of the funniest t-shirts I ever remembered said:

"I'd rather say Ay than Huh"

But this isn't a thread about funny, goofy, witty or insulting t-shirts, it is a story about our peaceful, unobtrusive northern neighbours:

Sunday Telegraph Article from today's UK wires:
Salute to a brave and modest nation - Kevin Myers,
The Sunday Telegraph
LONDON

Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops are deployed in the region And as always, Canada will bury its dead, just as the rest of the world, as always, will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.

It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of compl ete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored.

Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance.

A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price Canada pays for sharing the Nort h American continent with the United States, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions... it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved. Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy.

Almost 10% of Canada's entire populati on of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died.
The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.
Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the "British".

The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attacks. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world.

The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time.

Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated... a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has no notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality... unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter and Dan Aykroyd have, in the popular perception, become American, and Christopher Plummer, British.

It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves, and are unheard by anyone else, that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth...in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular on Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace, a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians rece ived no international credit.

So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian families knew that cost all too tragically well.
Posted By: seashell Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 10:29 PM
Thanks Amanda.

(wiping a tear)
Posted By: Sun&sand Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 10:30 PM
As I've said before, I support ALL of the Troops, but am having a difficult time supporting the war. No parent should ever have to bury their children, especially if it is a result of a war over something as absurd as this one.
My heart and gratitude goes out to everyone who is making the sacrifice. God Bless them all!
Posted By: kwalkpt Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 10:42 PM
Over the years I have sat through many events in the states that ask for veterans to stand. My father would just sit and applaud. Then we were in Nova Scotia and they asked all veterans to stand. It was the first time my father, a Canadian, stood as a veteran and got the recognition that he deserved!
Posted By: seashell Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 10:48 PM
sun&sand, while I certainly stand by the troops in Iraq too, this was about Canada's service in Afghanistan. I don't think the action there is absurd at all. That said, it deeply saddens me that we are losing our boys.
Posted By: Bobber Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/14/08 10:53 PM
And there are those of us in the States here that recognize our traditional friends (instead of just our current friends, or friends of opportunity), the Canadians. Too bad the media doesn't recognize their contributions (along with others). Believe me, they are not forgotten.
Posted By: Sun&sand Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 12:04 AM
I agree, seashell, but don't want any of anyone's kids in the middle east, regardless of the circumstances. I want everyone's children at home, where it's comfortable, and they are loved. Oh, if it were only a perfect world.
Posted By: reaper Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 12:12 AM
Chris Karagiannis was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan last June. He was a member of the Canadian "Skyhawks" Parachute Team that skydives around the world for exhibition jumps.
He jumped in Edmonton and was an instructor with Eden North Parachute Schools on his off time from military duties. He was a very good friend of the Skydive Belize staff.
Another of our skydive friends, Chris Thoombs, was wounded in Afghanistan last year and is recovered.
I just jumped with Steve Merry this weekend in Arizona. He is off to Afghanistan for his third tour of duty with the Canadian Military next month.
America and the world thank you...
Posted By: Sun&sand Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 12:23 AM
Amen, Reaper
Posted By: TacoBoy Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 12:25 AM
Canada has participated in every major conflict in the 20th and 21st century, up to and including the first Gulf war, Kosovo and Afganistan, except for the war in Vietnam and the last Gulf War.
Posted By: azbob Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 01:17 AM
The Canadians have long been our friends and supporters. I agree with Bobber, regardless of politics and press they are not forgotten. Long may we stand side by side to fight for freedom. We are both free countries, because of the brave.
Posted By: Nova Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 01:25 AM
Thanks Amanda!!!!
Posted By: Anonymous Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 02:36 AM
It is the lot of Canada to play second fiddle to the US, just as New Zealand walks a step or two behind Australia. I don't think that's a bad place to be.
Posted By: H20dog Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 03:54 AM
The last time I checked Canada was an elected government. But hey, its a lot easier to blame the US for their involvement in Iraq, rather than take the blame for the actions of their own government. Leave the US out of it. If Canada chooses to follow George Bush that's their fault...not the fault of the citizens of the United States. Oh yeah I forgot.....proud to be a citizen of the United States of America.......and we're going to fix our problem.
Posted By: seashell Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 04:38 AM
Canada is not in Iraq. Afghanistan was a world problem, not a US problem.
Posted By: PalapaBob Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 04:54 AM
Originally Posted by seashell
Canada is not in Iraq. Afghanistan was a world problem, not a US problem.

If the United States won't deal with this, who will? Do you remember what they were doing?
Posted By: Mikeywaz Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 04:56 AM
I'm not Canadian, but I'm awfully proud to have been married in Canada - since the US government wouldn't let us get married here! Thanks, Canada!
Posted By: H20dog Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 05:05 AM
Same story...different invasion. What did the Taliban do to Canada....or any other nation for that matter.
Canada makes its own choices.......
Posted By: seashell Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/15/08 06:17 AM
There were many people of other nationalities, Canadians included killed in the towers. While that atrocity occurred on US soil, it was not an attack *only* on the US.

And yes, we do make our own decisions. We decided it was the right thing to do in going to Afghanistan. We decided it was not the right thing to do to go into Iraq after non-existant weapons of mass destruction.

Posted By: Amanda Syme Re: Proud to be a Canadian, ay... - 01/16/08 01:54 AM
Well, this post wasn't meant to become a debate but rather a tribute. If folks would like to delve into political discussion perhaps a new thread is in order.

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