Happy Canada Day!

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, Canada was always a close neighbor and each visit reminded me what a great country it is.  The people were pleasant, streets were clean and the environment beautiful.

And I’ve always liked the Maple Leaf.  A flag that puts Nature in the middle, central to that great land.

July 4th is a different matter.  Now that we have Super-Patriots who wrap themselves in the flag, with guns and bibles, blowing up things and caging children while preaching “America First” and claiming every military member is a “hero” (but not teachers and nurses), I just don’t feel the same about “Independence Day.”

(With all the shootings, flags are so often half-staff, I propose they fly that way permanently, at least until the madness stops.  With the actions of the current “occupier” of the White House, I also think it makes sense to fly the Flag of Distress)

Yet, with all its faults, I love America.  I’m just as “Patriotic” as the God and Gun Guys.  And … I love Canada too.  In fact, I love the Earth.  All nations, all people, have goodness and greatness.

As Pablo Casals once said, “To love one’s country is a splendid thing.  But why should love stop at the border?”

btw, every year my wife and I like to read Frederick Douglass’ Independence Day Speech (July 5, 1852).  Sobering. . .America needs to hear it every year.