Sir: Is it just me or have we, as a community, become entirely oblivious to what 2017 represents for us as Canadians?
One of the things that bothers me immensely has to be the lack of patriotism that exists within parts of this country. Patriotism is not just a part-time endeavor. It is a role we should all be participating at actively in order to prosper, as a community … as a country. This most wonderful homeland of ours allows many privileges and yet, it seems that many of us are quite content at expressing very little in the way of love for their native land.
Patriotism is the love that people should be feeling and demonstrating openly for their country. For the most part, as Canadians, we are all pretty gosh darn good when it comes to boasting about our country however, sad as it is, we do very little to openly showcase our passion for it.
Outside of our troops, the Canadian Flag is our most recognizable feature. It’s our pride and joy; our Identity. Proudly flying our Canadian Flag should be a constant ongoing practice and not just a one day, one weekend, one week of parading it around, but unfortunately, it appears that even a monumental year such as 2017, our “150th Anniversary “, we seem as disinterested or at the very least, no more overly thrilled than that of previous years.
It saddens me greatly to see how few the Canadian flag numbers exist within the C-K municipality and perhaps even more so considering how significant this 2017 year should mean to us as Canadians. Even more demoralizing still is that of the many flags currently raised today are faded and/or tattered. As a proud Canadian, I find this disgraceful. From purely a “ Pride “ perspective, we should all be ashamed of ourselves. Although there appears to have been some noticeable effort in displaying the red and white colours (ie. flower baskets and beds, etc.), one would be hard pressed to find a similar effort generated in displaying those same true colours of ours in the name of our flag.
It appears to me that our lack of patriotism has blinded all of us into a false sense of complacency. Quite frankly, we risk losing our place as a role model that other nations look up to for centuries to come. We all need to reflect on this country’s great history and how it has significantly impacted each and everyone of us. What better way than to simply embrace and openly display this most wonderful Canadian Flag symbol of ours. It’s time we wake up Canada!
J.P. Raymond
Chatham
I agree. Same type of issue with the lack of citizens attending the yearly Decoration Day in our Soldier’s Field in the cemetery. What could be more thankful and patriotic then to decorate the graves of heroes with a Canadian flag provided by the Legion. Yet maybe 20 show up each year. Sad.