Sunday, still morning.Grocery store. Crowded. People do major shopping for the week, so there are many couples doing this chore together. My husband is pushing a cart, adding staff on his way - most of it bulk, of course. I am adding little things, that are not on the list (you know how it works: men shop strictly by the list previously made, we make the list not to FORGET to buy what we really need...). So walking around, checking the prices and reading the labels,I run into a woman who is lifting a heavy case of water bottles. I feel sorry because she makes a real effort to lift it and to carry it to her cart. What I see next, shocks me. Her husband is holding the handle of the cart with one hand and a cup of coffee with the other, sipping it from time to time, and watching his woman to squeeze that stack to the lower part of the cart. Our eyes meet, my feelings are all over my face - he doesn't blink, it is a normal thing for him.
Yes, they are from a different world - her clothes gives it away. We lived in that world for quite a few years. To see things like that was normal for me, because I was a visitor there, I accepted and respected their culture. It was interesting for me to see that a woman walks way behind her husband as if she has nothing to do with him, when he carries a baby and has other children around him. If there should be a line up, there would be two lines up - men separate from women, and there will be 4 men served before a woman. If you are in a shop with your husband or sun, it doesn't matter what you are buying, the owner is not looking at you, he is talking to your husband...I talked to men who had 2 - 3 wives and were proud of their family,openly saying, that they were interested to get another wife.... It was there, it was new, it was interesting.
Seeing all this today made me think. Is Canada a home for all of us here? Or it is just a safe place to live, a "country with great opportunities"? Writing all this I don't mean to insult those who think it is their home. I am trying to hope,that it is a home for me as well. But I cannot help it, I have habit of thinking. And thank you to Canada, that I can freely express my thoughts.
So, is it really a home? To feel safe and protected we need roof and walls. But it is not home yet. The spirit in it makes it home. Common traditions, habits, culture, values, etc. All this multiplied by millions makes a nation. So who are we? What is Canada for us - so much different, preserving our own traditions and values, following our own culture and believes?( I don't think I can compare all of us, so different, living in Canada, to different kids adopted by Madonna or Brandolina ? I hope, it's not only a roof and walls that those kids have, but a family and a home. )
Do we think about Canada as our Home when we pray together :God, keep our Land glorious and free? Our Gods are different and some say it even should be removed from the prayer... A lot of us , being "proud Canadians", don't know the language, don't learn it, don't care. And there are others too...
So here's another story for you.
The store phone rings. A sales associate politely answers the way it should be, saying at the end a common "how may I help you". The voice on the other end asks : "Are you a white Canadian or imported?" To the question how it might be related to the shoes, the lady answers that it is very important for her... And may be it is. The lady happened to be a customer that liked to shop in another location. We all happened to be "imported " Canadians. We got upset and put an alert on her account that she was a racist..
I mentioned this (and I could give you other examples of customers who give a friendly advice to get rid of "your stupid accent", or forget about where you are from and be happy with what you have...), because I think these people probably think of Canada as their home and don't want the strangers in it. I don't blame them. They are honest, they are not politicians. They don't believe that by sending troops to another country is possible to liberate the women from closing their faces, and to give them freedom to choose a husband... They don't want us change their tradition. They want Christmas tree and Merry Christmas... They probably don't believe that Canada is the Home for us all . All.
That makes us think,doesn't it?
