"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." Gustav Mahler.
When we were young and in school, we sang "God Save the Queen", we spoke the Lord's Prayer, and we were taught that we were fortunate to have stood on the shoulders of the giants who came before.
We were taught the beneficence of our British Heritage, of being on the right side of history for 800 years, and that it was that tradition that we could thank for our economic ascendancy, cultural conformity, and political stability.
We were the grey grout that held together the Dominion. I like that.
But the Constitution put a knife in the back of the quest for a pan-Canadian identity, and every attempt was made to weaken the traditions, customs and conventions with which we identified.
When one takes away those guardrails, standards, and notions of civic order, we are prepared not for that which steps into the void.
I knew more British and European history in 1967 when I finished Grade 6 than 90+% of high school graduates today, and though the son of German refugees, one Jewish, after the war, I felt part of the whole. Instead of depth, our schools now teach breadth, in the name of multiculturalism. More focus on content and positive achievements and less on style and injustice is what we need to help strengthen our national identity.
Our ancestors competently engineered a country that has no serious threats, therefore no need to emphasize the rituals that ensure cultural strength. I assume that people coming here did so, because of what our heritage was good at delivering, a society that ranks among the highest in the world on all measures of human well-being. As our country descends into the kind of society that exists in most other parts of the world, there might be a revival in this amazing culture that produced the things we will come to miss...
A very enjoyable article.
"Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire." Gustav Mahler.
When we were young and in school, we sang "God Save the Queen", we spoke the Lord's Prayer, and we were taught that we were fortunate to have stood on the shoulders of the giants who came before.
We were taught the beneficence of our British Heritage, of being on the right side of history for 800 years, and that it was that tradition that we could thank for our economic ascendancy, cultural conformity, and political stability.
We were the grey grout that held together the Dominion. I like that.
But the Constitution put a knife in the back of the quest for a pan-Canadian identity, and every attempt was made to weaken the traditions, customs and conventions with which we identified.
When one takes away those guardrails, standards, and notions of civic order, we are prepared not for that which steps into the void.
Great essay, Geoff.
I knew more British and European history in 1967 when I finished Grade 6 than 90+% of high school graduates today, and though the son of German refugees, one Jewish, after the war, I felt part of the whole. Instead of depth, our schools now teach breadth, in the name of multiculturalism. More focus on content and positive achievements and less on style and injustice is what we need to help strengthen our national identity.
Our ancestors competently engineered a country that has no serious threats, therefore no need to emphasize the rituals that ensure cultural strength. I assume that people coming here did so, because of what our heritage was good at delivering, a society that ranks among the highest in the world on all measures of human well-being. As our country descends into the kind of society that exists in most other parts of the world, there might be a revival in this amazing culture that produced the things we will come to miss...