Excuse Me Sir, Your Patriotism Is Showing

I would say that Canadians are not normally that patriotic. You won't see a lot of Canadian flags flying, apart from government buildings (city halls, the post office, maybe at some schools), we don't talk a lot about how much we LOVE Canada (sometimes to our detriment), and often we are more divided by our regional differences than we are united by our national identity.

But then, oh then, every four years the Winter Olympics come along and everything changes. All of a sudden we realize We. Are. Canadian. And we shout it from the rooftops, the streets, and our workplaces. I can't even tell you how much of the Olympics Canadian kids have watched in place of doing schoolwork these past two weeks. Especially during hockey games!

 

image from here

Workplaces have had big screen TVs playing the Olympics when Canadians are participating so their employees can be in the know, and banks, libraries and other places are displaying Canada's medal count, as it happens.

 

image from here

It kind of makes me laugh. It kind of makes me cry (with happiness and pride). And it kind of makes me want to proclaim "I. Am. Canadian!!!"

video, a Canadian beer ad from a few years ago, from here

Note: The last third of the ad gets a little aggressive, which I don't like, but the phrase "I. Am. Canadian!" has come to be our national hashtag!

 But now that these Olympics are over, our patriotism will likely go hide under the bed again. At least until 2018.

PS. I'm think I'm glad I didn't live in Edmonton (our previous hometown) yesterday! Especially since about three of those bars are within a five minute walk of our former house :)