and as a Canadian it’s probably not my place to do so here. But I did watch the Inauguration yesterday.
The vision of America I heard expressed is not one I’ve experienced in my many visits there – including a pilgrimage to that most sacred place above.
My family mostly came to Canada from the USA – some as refugees after the Revolution, some following the railways in the 1840s. Many of these emigrants went back to the US for education or to have professional careers. A lot of my cousins live there today.
Maria’s family came from Italy in the 1950s and they are pretty much equally divided into Canadian and US citizens now. So we are a mixed up bunch.
Add to that the many great American folks I’ve met – in visiting the US, through online forums, on a bus in Italy, sitting beside them in a cruise ship dining room, or getting a ride to the airport and discussing their Thanksgiving plans with them. I love them all.
They seem to be bitterly divided right now. I have friends and relatives on both sides. It pains me to see it. I know who Sullivan Ballou was, and it also pains me to hear his memory and legacy booed because some people didn’t like the US Senator who invoked his words.
Pardon me if I don’t see all these great helpful, friendly, kind friends and relatives as victims of a dark and merciless System. Do they really see themselves that way?
Most Canadians have a great respect and admiration for Barack Obama. I do too – I think he’s a good and decent man, and while in the White House he, his wife and kids were a fine example of family life to many people around the world. I do hope that things will work out with his successor in time. I am willing to wait and see.
In the meantime I want to say again that I really love my dear friends and relatives in the US and I wish them nothing but the best going forward into the next Presidency. We non-American people are counting on you all to carry on the best way you can.
