Our great country turns 149 today.
Being so young, we as a country are still optimistic and idealistic, embracing diversity and inclusion, while placing high value on kindness, generosity and manners. We haven’t yet been tainted with the cynicism of age.
We aren’t a perfect country, and we still have some growing up to do, but this weekend is a time to be grateful that we live in a place where people aren’t fighting each day to survive, aren’t being bombed, tortured or starved.
Be grateful we are a (for the most part) well-mannered, hockey loving, passive bunch, with free will and beautiful surroundings.
This is the perfect weekend to go camping, take a dip in a lake, go for a bike ride, or take in the party at Willoughby Community Park or Fort Langley.
Appreciating what makes Canada great will go a long way toward helping us keep it that way in the future.
While we are a polite, apologetic group, not known to boast, we actually have gifted the world with some pretty amazing inventions.
We’ve had a hand in thinking up a lot of sports — including hockey, basketball and lacrosse.
Life in the frozen north also led to the invention of both the snowmobile and snow blower.
When it comes to food, we are the proud inventors of the Caesar drink, poutine, butter tarts and Nanaimo bars.
Canadians invented plexiglass, Walkie Talkies and the robotic Canadarm, used on the space station, not to mention the game Trivial Pursuit.
Even the lovable character Winnie the Pooh was based on a bear brought to Europe by Canadian soldiers during the First World War.
We can lay claim to some of the funniest people in the world, too, including, but not limited to, Dan Aykroyd, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Ryan Reynolds and Michael J. Fox.
We have also produced some pretty solid role models, like Terry Fox, Wayne Gretzky, Chris Hadfield, Emily Carr and Rick Hansen.
We are pretty awesome, and today is a good day to remember that.
Happy birthday, Canada.
