"Canada Day"

For those who don’t know – which for my American followers may be everyone – today is “Canada Day.”

It is appropriate at this celebrational moment to recall how Canada originally became a country.  Which could not be more different than the years-long struggle that allowed the United States to secure independence.

The implementation of the British North America Act on July 1, 1867, began thusly:

Via legislative procedure, Canada said to the “Mother Country”, “We would like to be independent, please”, and the complying “Mother Country” said, “Sure.”

Hence, a great sovereign nation was born.

CUE THE FIREWORKS, WHICH, IN TERMS OF ACTUAL GUNFIRE ON THAT OCCASION, THERE WAS NONE.

It seems reasonable to suspect that this political analogue to “Painless Childbirth” affects a country’s national psyche.  A “civilized separation” allows the belief that it is not necessarily a “dog eat dog” situation – “it” meaning life itself.  Sometimes, it’s one dog peacefully petitioning for a desired outcome and the other dog saying, “Okay.”

Temperamentally, Canada is an unrabid dog.

CUT TO:

The Toronto Raptors-Golden State Warriors NBA Finals.

And my certain prediction that we had no chance whatsoever of winning.

And then we won.  (You will note the shameful “double-mention” of “We.”)

Understand this was the team’s first time making the NBA Finals.  That’s pretty darn good.  And for Canadians, conventionally, “pretty darn good” is as far as we go.

Then they tenaciously prevailed.  And the world immediately turned upside-down.

(I have to grab onto something.  I just wrote myself dizzy.)

Believe me – a phrase that has lost its luster, but still – it is not just me harboring this losing mentality.  Keeping in mind that losing does not entirely mean defeat.  (With Americans reading this going, “Yes it does.”  To which the upright Canadian says, “We played our best and we lost ‘the right way’, so it’s not exactly a defeat.”  To which Americans say, “Yes it is!”

You have to understand how Canadians, living next-door to Americans – where, quoting successful NFL football coach Vince Lombardi, “Winning isn’t everything.  It’s the only thing.” – innately feel about things.

At which point the writer demonstrates it is “not just him” with a true-life recollection:

I am attending an invited gathering, held in a large ballroom at Los Angeles’ Four Seasons Hotel.  It may actually have been an arranged “Canada Day” celebration, where expatriate Canadians amicably assembled, remembering “old times”, agreeing that none of us miss winter.

Suspended on walls, are numerous big screens, on which are projected, playing in a circling “loop”, clips of noteworthy achievements by Canadian athletes in  international competition.

Suddenly, catching sight of a medaling Olympic figure skater, I gleefully proclaim,

“I know her.  She came in second!”

To which a Canuck colleague wryly replied,

“Who in this room didn’t?”

I have not lived in Canada for some time, so I do not know if things have changed.  But back then, that’s what we believed.  We were used to coming in second.  (We come in second just on the continent.)  Coming in second earns an always respectful, “Nice try, eh?”  For Canadians, that’s winning the trophy.  Without actually winning the trophy.

So when the Raptors – I know there were no Canadians on the team but it’s enough that their shirts said “Toronto” – made the NBA Finals, all I knew was that one team was Canadian, and the other team would soon be dousing each other with champagne in the locker room.

I was so discombobulated by the aberrant result that today, when I turned on CNN to monitor possible follow-up “championship coverage” and saw the huge crowd filling the street, I was delighted, seeing the Raptors “Victory Parade” in Toronto.  Then I saw giant placards written in Chinese, and realized it was actually a big protest rally in Hong Kong.

No disrespect to the protesters, but

Yeah, right.

Like CNN would cover a Canadian “Victory Parade.”

Anyway…

Happy Canada Day. 

Where winning isn’t the only thing.

It’s just the only thing we never expect.