Thought of the Day 01/29/2015: The Language of Ex-Patriotism

Back in the good ol' Thousand Islands! I thought it only fitting to return to where I was born and raised before departing this country (hopefully) forever. Two weeks spent with my Sister and Brother-in-Law along with their three devilishly adorable children, as well as my Dad and Mom #2, in an attempt to have a proper good-bye.

The famous Boldt Castle, the heart of the Thousand Islands.

In accordance with the one addiction I allow myself with a degree of acceptance, I immediately took to working out every morning at the Clayton Fitness Center (which interestingly used to be a restaurant called The Caddyshack, at which my eldest Sister used to work, and where my friends and I had dinner before our Senior Ball in High School). The first morning there I noticed something that made a lot of other somethings suddenly make sense, and that initial something was the Canadian radio station being broadcasted. This is extremely typical in the Thousand Islands. Here, Canadian currency is accepted at par, the Canadian flag is proudly displayed as an equal beside its American counterpart, and the radio and TV stations are largely Canadian simply because the signals are stronger and reception clearer. It never occurred to me growing up, but the line between being American and being Canadian is blurred enough to significantly dull patriotic ideation. What's more, listening to the radio that morning made me realize that I was raised with language that likely exacerbated that point.

Earlier this week the New England area was forecasted to experience a 'catastrophic' storm, the likes of which would paralyze more than one of the Northeast's critical hubs. The Canadians on the morning radio show were, understandably, poking fun at America's proclivity for over-dramatizing such events; surmising that after all this cataclysmic anticipation only a few inches would fall and they'd be left looking a bit absurd (and that's basically what happened). The DJ's went on to say "It'll be just like the other times. What was that one crazy thing they freaked out over? Y2K?" 

While I had a hardy laugh at the remembrance of Y2K, undoubtedly the most anti-climactic incident in US history, it dawned on me that this is the language with which I grew up. It had undoubtedly influenced how I came to think and fell about the country to which I pledged my allegiance. Subsequently, I assume this is why I stopped saying the pledge of allegiance around 5th grade, getting in trouble repeatedly for my diffidence. Instead of considering myself an America, I came to think of Americans as 'those' people, people who were the butt of many a Canadian farce. I'll kindly request that my readers not become agitated at this fact since Americans have done more than their share of ripping on Canada. Who hasn't laughed at the expense of curling, 'aboots' or Bryan Adams?