Proud to be Canadian
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To say my week didn’t go according to plan would be a drastic understatement. It started out with a paper deadline reached ahead of schedule, a couple of good runs, a chance to see some of our provinces best runners compete for a spot on the Provincial team and was really going better than average until Wednesday. I woke up with H1N1 and it brought me down hard. I spent two days fevered and then, freezing, so ill I could not move. I slept—I slept a lot.
Now most people would have trouble picking out the “up side” of being home in bed but I had an epiphany on Friday thanks to the Olympic torch relay. By Friday, thanks to the Tamiflu capsules, I was able to see the commencement of the Olympic torch relay in Victoria. Between bouts of impromptu cat naps, I watched the First Nations chiefs bring the flame by lantern in their native boat to the Inner Harbour and ask permission to come ashore. The camera crews caught the emotion on the faces of the crowd. I heard speeches by Mayor Robertson, Prime Minister Harper, Premier Campbell, one of the First Nations Chiefs and several more dignitaries. “Oh Canada,” was sung.
Olympians Catriona Le May Doan and Simon Whitfield ran with the torch followed by Silken Laumann and Alexandre Despartie. There was no other time in my life that I have felt more proud to be a Canadian.
Mounties stood ready in their red serge. Smiling children waved Canadian flags. Voices broke with emotion. Most of us will never win an Olympic medal, but to be a part of the best of the best is almost as good.
I have complained immensely about the spending of provincial money on the Olympics while important projects die, health and education suffer and children do without. I admit that. The wrong decision was made when a province in financial trouble grabbed for something they could not afford, but it is here and it is ours. We can either continue to protest in vain or we can embrace the spirit of the Olympics in true Canadian fashion. I for one am proud to be a Canadian and that pride was written clearly on the many faces of those Canadians who were there in person. It is time to remember all those athletes who have worked so hard and support them. It is time to give our children something to aspire to. We need them to see what happens when you work hard to achieve your goals. We cannot change the Olympic overspending into money for the hospitals and schools, but we can change our sour note to one of pride. In its pure form, excellence is a true thing of wonder. Many Canadians strive for it every day. Striving and being and doing, trump whining any day. My Canada has Olympians in it and I am proud. I want them to succeed. I want my kids to see that.
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