How our preceptions are often quite wrong...

vanity ^ | Now | Me

[Happygal]

I've just come back from a three week vacation to Canada. British Columbia and Alberta, to be precise.

Just a couple of thoughts, that I imagined Freepers may like to discuss.

Before I go any further. Canada is an AMAZINGLY beautiful country. Quite jaw-dropping in the spectacular nature of its awe-inspiring beauty. A place where 'back to nature' sits on your doorstep. Beauty personified. (Not only in it's natural state, but also in it's people).

And what I learned...

I was in BC and Alberta. Both places are very, heavily populated by trees. I learned from a BC resident that it had been christened 'The Brazil of the North' and that environmentalists were discouraging clearcut logging.

Of course the same resident said that trees re-spawn (not the right word, but I'm sure you know what I'm saying) there, within a few years of cutting, and in 40 years or so, are fully grown again - practically. (BTW..from what I could see, the population of earth could work 24/7 and try cut down all the trees in British Columbia and the damned things would have fully grown by the time you finished). What I'm saying...THIS natural resource, this paper, log, wooden floor, house building resource, NATURAL factory is being targeted by Greenpeace people - a.k.a. long haired hippie middle class children whose parents paid for them to go to college. :-)

AND no I'm not being funny, because I went to the Queen Charlotte Islands and went crab fishing with a girl, who went there - having saved the Brazillian rainforest with Greenpeace for two years -- is now living and completely enjoying a gun-toting lifestyle (which I guess, is different from her Mammy and Daddy's middle class house in Toronto) killing her own deer on those wonderful Queen Charlotte's. Put it this way...she's no longer a vegetarian! :-)

Regardless, I live on an island (Ireland) that is infant-sized to the mass that is Canada.

My tiny island is probably more socialised (and YES, I know, I know, probably more socialist -I'm doing my best to change the tide, I swear- than Canada).

What I'm trying to say is I live on a little island that America laughs at a lot..but in social terms is a lot more (without sounding elitist -and those are not at all the right words - ...because that would NEVER be my intention)..more 'traditionally' educated, and social (NOT socialist...I literally mean social).

I had a wonderful time in Canada and could easily live there. But it made me think quite a lot about how insular we ALL are. How I thought,before I'd been there, how I'd be overwhelmed in Canada (a massive land mass) and what it could teach me socially. When in fact Ireland (a tiny land mass) taught the Canadians I'd met (lovely,lovely, amazing frontiers people) a bit about socialization (only in Irish terms). But those fantastic people (while quite different) taught ME a lot about 'real, real life'.

What am I trying to say?

~shruggin'~ I don't know.
Visit Canada? (I know I'm going back)

Realise that places outside your own little world maybe different than what you thought they might be, and discovering the difference is damn good! :-)

I guess I'm saying....TRAVEL!!! *S*

And maybe A LOT of my American friends could learn a lot from a visit to Canada, as I certainly did.

BTW Canada...I'll be back :-)

[Mike Darancette]

What I'm trying to say is I live on a little island that America laughs at a lot..

Who could laugh at the "Old Sod" or the beautiful people who live on her?

We might just have a problem with her government from time to time.

[MeekOneGOP]

I'm so happy you enjoyed BC and Alberta so much. I've been to
Trail, BC back in the late 60s. Beautiful, beautiful country!

Coteblanche, aren't you in Eastern Canada? I've never been to that
part of Canada. I bet it's just as lovely?......

[Colosis]

Good to see you back, Happy. You missed some great weather while you were gone!<\typical Irish weather>

[constitutiongirl]

I'm glad you enjoyed your vacation! Our experiences and education are the filters through which we view the world. I know that subjects like personal property rights, history and world politics are viewed differently by a European than an American. When discussing things European, I try to point out to Americans that Euros 'see' that particular subject differently because they have an entirely different set of experiences than Americans. Except for a few bouts of homeschooling and my last 2 years of school, I spent the rest of my 'class time' in a European class. I notice it when I discuss things European with Americans and I realize that some have no true concept of things 'non-American'. (Like that horrid little thread the other day where I was called a 'harpy', can ya believe it.*L*)

[constitutiongirl]

Are you implying that it was soft for six and one-half days?:)

[JennysCool]

Happygal Rules! ... Keep yer stick on the ice!

[Colosis]

Hoaareya Harpy...hee,heee...it's been raining for 2 friggin' months here. Don't you miss it!!

[Happygal]

Al Green! *LOL* (Now where did I leave my duct tape! *L*)

[JennysCool]

Tee hee! Al Green indeed! That is a photograph of the unelected President of Canada, and I had no idea his fame had spread all the way to Ireland! BTW -- welcome home again, Toots!

[constitutiongirl]

Actually, I do miss it. My skin has a difficult time in all this warm, southern sun.:)