The best country to be born in...

[fajrdrako]

I went to an exhibit of Chinese art today.

At one point, our Chinese guide was explaining about the Cultural Revolution. She talked about how, when she was in kindergarten, the teachers in China taught her that she was exceptionally lucky to be born there, because in the rest of the world everyone lived in poverty and suffering (except for a few rich people). She believed it.

My first thought was of the beginning of Serenity, where River is told by her teachers how lucky they are to live under the Alliance because the alternative is suffering and savagery. And River says that the Alliance is 'meddlesome'.

Then I remembered Bill Bryson's book The Lost Continent in which he says he was taught from kindergarten that he was lucky to be born in the United States because it was the best of countries, better than all the others, because people in other countries were poor and unfree.

I guess a lot of countries teach that they're the best.

I mentioned this to maaseru and she said, "Not ours. Did they ever tell you in school you were lucky to be Canadian?"

I thought about it. "Never," I said. "The subject just... never came up." In fact, I couldn't even imagine it coming up.

There's something about the concept of being the best... or being willing to say that you're the best... that seems very un-Canadian. I don't think it's because we're modest, or because we hate our country. Maybe it's just our way of being perversely self-confident? Or maybe because, in our ongoing attempts to balance two cultures on a national tight-rope, we prefer not to pass judgement on the rest of the world? Even in kindergarten?

Comments

[dargie.livejournal.com]

Well, speaking as an American (and one who loves her country even if she's not very proud of it just now) I think you're very fortunate to be Canadian. I say that because my experience of Canada is that it's a clean country full of civil people. And while you may not be a world leader, you are also not going to try to play policeman to the universe.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Oh, I have no doubt that being Canadian is a wonderful thing. I wouldn't choose anything else... Well, maybe I might; I love Europe. But I do love Canada for a zillion reasons, including the nature of its people, the colour of the autumn leaves, and the general tendencies of our values. There are things I would change, but there's no place that's better. It sort of goes without saying... and that being said, the whole point is, we don't say it. We don't feel comfortable saying it. We just... know it.

Maybe our weather keeps us humble. We're one of the biggest countries in the world, but the weather is always bigger than we are.

[teaphile.livejournal.com]

I'd never even thought about that, but no, I was never told anything like that in school. It might have something to do with being a Commonwealth country; we can't be better than our sister countries and we certainly can't be better than the country our queen lives in, no matter how ceremonial her position.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was never told anything like that in school.

I must ask a few more people but I don't believe that Canadian schools have ever said such a thing - either as School Board policy or the teaching of any particular teacher.

The Commonwealth point is a good one. Our country came of age as one among equals, so how could we claim to be better? I wonder if Australia is the same, or New Zealand.

[lmondegreen.livejournal.com]

You're right! I've never heard any better-than-thou propaganda here, either. Though I do maintain that we're the prettiest (especially in October) *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. I love October. Some of the leaves on Third Avenue this week have been spectacular. I like the weather this time of year... Hmm. I should be out walking and enjoying it!

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Canada, Happy Thanksgiving!! :-)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'll be having a lovely turkey dinner tonight!

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

When I was at school, being born in a particular country wasn't seen as being particularly important. It was being Welsh (best in the world), English (best in the world) or French (best in the world) that mattered.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

That makes a certain kind of sense. Nations and linguistic groups have a quite different connotation in the Old World, because there's a linguistic group or identity involved. The U.S. and Canada are much more political entities - they really aren't ethnic entities at all. Being a Canadian says nothing about my heritage. As for being English and French... eek, now *there's* a can of worms. Many Canadians are proud of their family heritage - be it French, English, Welsh, Scots, German, Somali, Ukrainian, Chinese, whatever - but that isn't shared with the rest of the country. It's an individual thing.

Now, you'd think that since Canadian history in some ways parallels U.S. history, that it would be the same that way, but it isn't at all. They have a lot of national pride, a mystique about their flag and history, and so on, that is quite lacking in Canada. And I wouldn't want it either, but then, I'm part of the Canadian point of view.

So maybe the virtues of being Canadian are more amorphous, and since most people don't know what to pin it on, it doesn't get pinned on at all.