Lament For Canadian Patriotism

This weekend I have, as usual, spent some time sitting on my front and back steps, from both of which I can look across the street and see the elementary school.

Back in the day when I was an grade school student, going to a one-room country school on the Canadian prairie, the kids were each assigned a daily or monthly task. The tasks were rotated on a monthly or some such schedule so that throughout the year every kid got to do the same thing, or at least, something appropriate for their age.

One of the tasks that I liked the best was hoisting the flag on the flag pole in the morning and taking it down again at the end of the day. Of course, back then the flag hoisted on the pole was the Union Jack. (Queen Elizabeth's portrait also looked down on us from her position above the chalkboard.)

From my front/back step perch I can see the flag pole in front of the school across the street. Yesterday, I was saddened to note that the flag was still flying. Although this weekend is a long weekend, with today being Labour Day (we still spell the British way), no one had thought to take the flag down.

Not only that, but the flag was a mess. As my readers likely know, Canada's flag consists of three vertical bars; a white one in the middle with two red ones on either side. In the centre of the middle bar is a red maple leaf.

Not only was the flag still flying when school was out, but the outer red bar was missing. What was left of it looked pretty tattered and sorry as well. Does the school or the school division not have enough money to buy a new flag? Obviously, they don't care enough about its symbolism to take it down at the end of the day and store it safely inside away from the elements.

Well, this old fart says, bring back the old days, please, and I don't mean we should be flying the Union Jack. We are no longer a British offshoot. I recognize that and I have no problem with having our own identity rather than being just British subjects, but must we also throw out this symbol of our Canadianess, of our history?

And BTW, the new flag was Lester Pearson's legacy, so this is not Trudeau's fault. That doesn't mean I can't blame the Liberal Party for our lack of pride, though.

Bah humbug!!