I love Rick Mercer. (Go to www.rickmercer.com) He’s funny, smart, irreverent, and is never afraid of making a fool of himself for the sake of his country. He talks about political things that I can never say on this blog, so I thank him for being my voice. Plus his famous rants are always bang on, and leave me cheering and laughing. Rick’s sense of humour projects what lies at the heart of Canada: cheering for the underdog, the ever-present self-loathing and inferiority complex along with the justifying need to overcome those things, the desire to do the right thing, and the righteous beast within that rears its head in the face of injustice and especially in the wake of stupid politicians’ actions and words. Rick is a master at highlighting the inconsistencies, fallacies, and sometimes just plain dumbness of politics in Canada. And with that as a springboard, he’ll never run out of material.
A few years back, he ran a segment on his show, where he went down to the States and held man-in-the-street interviews, asking your average American citizen questions about Canada. The point was to highlight how little Americans know about Canada and Canadians in general, as opposed to our ingrained knowledge of the USA, its culture and its politics. And you know, it stands to reaason that we WOULD know more about the US, given that they are bigger and more influential. Even if I sometimes feel Canada is saturated with American culture, it’s still better to know the score with your neighbour than it is to be ignorant, even if you come by that knowledge and understanding through assimilation and osmosis. (I’ll try to apply that same logic to my own tale of two solitudes……but that’s a whole other blog post).
ANYWAYS….. Rick Mercer’s segment was funny, the people interviewed were good-natured about their ignorance of we, the people of Canada, and it made for good TV. Everyone was happy. But here’s where I got to thinking……
As you know, dear reader, my Mr. C. is an American living in Canada with me, his French-Canadian sweetheart (his words, not mine). You would think that there wouldn’t be too many differences between us, given that I’ve just said that Canada is absorbed into US culture. However, Mr. C’s political views (sometimes) clash real loud with mine, and we’ve had many opportunities in the past two years to put the word “truce” into action. Yet our cultural differences have knit us into this warm and woolly scarf, where we bask in happy contentment & respect for each other’s country. There’s more to be gotten from learning and understanding then there is in standing with your arms crossed, unwilling to budge. Especially when you’re married. And you sleep in the same bed.
As Mr. C. and I embarked on this amazing knitting project of enmeshing our two selves together, I found myself feeling more and more….dare I say it…..ignorant. Ignorant of my heritage, ignorant of my culture, ignorant of how my government operates. As a newbie to Canada, just about everything was new and different to Mr. C.: our “Monopoly” money (he eventually conceded that ours is better), health care (’nuff said), looking for work, Celsius degrees, our politics, our history, our history as it relates to American history, our perceptions of Americans, our perceptions of him….HE was new and different here; people were quick to pick up on his accent, to his growing bemusement, because he doesn’t feel he has one. I keep trying to explain that we ALL have accents, however, it might take time.
So whenever Mr. C. came across something he wasn’t familiar with, he would, of course, turn to me, his smart Canadian wife, his link with his new world, and he would ask:
“Why did Trudeau repatriate the constitution?” ”What’s the House of Commons?” “What’s the FLQ?” “What’s the NDP?” ”Why do I have to take my shoes off in the house?” “Why do you have a Governor-General?” “Why do magazines cost more in Canada?” “Who’s Brian Mulroney?” “What’s the deal with Québec?” “What’s that in Farenheit/gallons/miles?” ”Why the conflict between the English & the French?” “What’s a ‘too-que’ and why do you pronounce it ‘too-que’ but you spell it ‘toque’ ?” ……..
And I, in all my Canadian smartness, found that more often than not, I could only smile sweetly and say:
“I’ll have to look that up and get back to you…..”.
It’s embarrassing. It took marrying an American to make me see how pathetic my knowledge, awareness, and understanding of my own country was. When you know your history, when you understand your culture, how your government works, all of that stuff, it goes deep inside of you and gives you a much deeper sense of belonging and enlightenment. You understand others on another level, you see past the garbage-media-fed mentality and you succeed in “un-stunting” your own growth: in other words, what was “Us vs. Them” becomes “Us & Them”.
But when you don’t fully know from whence you came, and when you can’t explain the whys and hows of important events that have shaped your country, it’s more than embarrassing. It’s apathetic. Apathy is the opposite of passion and enthusiasm. And I am nothing if I’m not passionate.
So, in case I’m not the only Canadian who finds herself in this apathetic boat-to-nowhere, here’s what I propose to Rick Mercer:
Mr. Mercer, in the same vein as your “What do Americans know about Canada ” segment on your show, maybe you could do one where you hit different provinces and ask the average person on the street what they know about Canada. We’re quick to laugh at Americans’ lack of knowledge about us, but I think we’d get a bigger laugh at our own deficiencies about ourselves. We’ve proven time and again that we have a great sense of humour (elections, anyone?), and think of what this would do to the self-esteem of Canadians everywhere….by doing this, you would greatly contribute to the enlightenment and progress of this magnificent country! Take a step to lead us out of this apathy, Mr. Mercer! Show us the short-sighted, unaware people that we really are, so we can become open-minded and true citizens of Canada and the world!
I, for one, am trying to take a more active interest in how my country is put together, if only to preserve the image that Mr. C. has of me. If he starts suspecting that I may not be completely up to snuff in the brains department, I may NEVER get him to take his shoes off inside the house!
In the meantime, me & Mr. C. will cast on, knitting & purling our lives in a unique red, white, and blue pattern, happy and content to know that our warm and woolly scarf grows warmer and woollier with each difference shared and understood.
Love,
Chantal xoxox
