the canadian difference

LMAO, so Rushia was so scared of us they gave Alaska to the States? I guess there was more power in our old "stubie" beer bottles than we knew!


They were a great hand grenade....if only to get the enemy plastered!

 

Waay easier to throw than a Stolichnaya bottle!

 

Yes I know Alaska & Hawaii are states. But just as Hawaii does, they tend to think of themselves as their own little entity.

 

Like Quebec...

 

Yeah....not trying to start anything but....what's the story on Quebec? I know nothing about it but isn't that where they voted to suddenly adopt French as its official language? If that's true it had to piss off at least SOME people, no?

 

Mais oui!
If you're really interested:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_separatism
Let's agree to not go there here.
As far as I'm concerned separatism = treason.
They (we) actually let bloc quebecois hold federal seats in office.

 

Egg-zactly

 

Agreed. As stated...not trying to start anything but I am curious about this. I will follow your link. Thanks.

 

And then there is this, referenced earlier but I couldn't get that link to open. So I found it here

http://www.wimp.com/explainscanada/

 

huh....well put! thanks saf!

 

I warms my heart each time one of these letters or videos makes their way around the 'Net. It's good to know that there are a lot of folks in both countries who still understand what it means to respect their neighbours. Makes me proud to be Canadian. The wife and I actually teared up watching this one.

Here's one that was making the rounds a year or so ago.

 

A good friend of mine is the Associate Director at the Juno Beach Centre Foundation. It's a part time gig that lets him tour a lot of museums, and meet with veterans on a regular basis. Whenever the opportunity arises we go to historical site and museum openings for photo shoots and archiving. A really enjoyable pastime.

One of the aspects of his "job" is to travel to Europe once or twice a year to oversee various aspects of the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France as well as document sites around France, Italy and other countries that hosted the war. On each trip they take a number of school teachers to familarize them with the area and history of battle sites. Along with the teachers go as many veterans as are willing and able to make the trip. The bus is usually labeled with some variation of "Canadian Veterans" or "Juno Beach" on the front and everywhere they go, they have great difficulty getting the veterans in and out of the bus due to the number of French citizens who stop what they are doing to cheer and applaud.

On a recent trip, they were attempting to locate a relatively small grave site where a number of Canadian troops had been buried. They were having trouble locating it so they stopped to ask for directions. My friend Kev de-bussed and approached a stereotypical French grandmother on the roadside (complete with basket of bagettes over her shoulder). In his high-school Quebecois he managed to convey who they were and what they were looking for. The woman dropped her basket, and with tears in her eyes grabbed him in a deathgrip of a hug before finally offering directions. Kev was kind of embarrassed at not having even been born when the event he was being thanked for took place and he got back on the bus.

A few minutes later as the bus was travelling, still unable to locate the grave site, two French police cars pulled alongside with lights and sirens flashing and flagged the bus driver down. As it turned out, the elderly woman on the roadside had spoken of her encounter to her family and together they realized that she had given the directions to the site incorrectly. Their resolution to the problem was to contact the local police who immediately set out to find the busload of veterans and give them a rather obtrusive police escort to their destination.

I never tire of hearing the stories that he comes back with.

 

A couple of great posts, wiz. I mean....really great. I enjoyed reading them and my feelings for the Canadians was bolstered. We are both, the USA and Canada, lucky to have such good neighbors. I'm not sure that many Americans are aware of the Canadian mind set that propels them, without a thought, to where people need help. It is a natural reaction by good people rushing to help others.
We don't hear much about the things that Canada does on our behalf but I was proud that Captain Meadows (retired) wrote that article of recognition of Canadians that are there in the wars side by side with us and about their quick and unselfish reaction to disasters that occur in places other than on their own soil.
In my years of kicking around on this planet I can honestly say that I have never met a Canadian that I didn't like. I moved to Florida in 1960 for awhile and met, Ken and Pauline, a couple from Canada. I swear, they were the nicest people I have ever met and, Ken, was a true friend. I have many other stories about Canadians and they are all good and all positive.
Anyway, wiz....thanks for the posts. You, too, Saf. We need to recognize our neighbors to the north and continue to share a camaraderie that helps to make a shaky world a better place.