What is my cause?

I don't know.

But lets try and figure it out. Right here, right now.

After all, I find that I do my best deep thinking while writing about something that I'm not required by someone else to write.

I want to find out what drives me, what causes I like, so that I can use something like that to present to the media in such a way that I can get publicity for myself and that cause.

Kind of selfish, I know, but it's the way that I think is going to work if I want to change the world.

So, what drives me. What values do I have? That seems like a good place to start. I value family, people who voice their opinions, humour and not taking oneself to seriously, honesty,
taking leaps of faith, courage, integrity, community, acceptance, kindness, the pursuit of success, beauty, wow this list is getting to be really long. I guess that there are a lot of things that I value.

But what kind of things do I value that I would like to see more of in the world. Well, I would like to see more faith in politicians, to start. I would also like to see the world enlightened to the many things that are going on around them. Just like Plato's Cave, I would have people make the journey to the mouth of the cave, feel the harsh sunlight in their eyes, and then go back to tell others about what they have seen.

What do we lack? What should we not have? I would like to see children in Africa with full bellies and free from AIDS. I would like to see the United States stop bullying the rest of the world into doing what it wants. I would like to see the country of Tibet restored to it's rightful status. I would like to see money's power dissappear, and have it replaced by the power of principles. I would like to see an end to war, an end to greed, an end to everything that makes this world so horrible to live in.

I guess that I have been putting it at the bottom of most of my correspondance for weeks. I have wanted, since I was probably five or six years old when I first understood that there were other people in the world, Peace on Earth.

Now I know that we have been working towards peace for a long time, with the establishment of the United Nations, the Nuclear Disarmament that occurred in the 1970's, and more. And it's a long road, but I think that we'll get there.

I will continue to want this ideal of heaven on earth, for lack of a better world. I guess that everyone wants it, paradise.

But I think the problem is they don't really know what paradise is. They think that they do, but they really don't. So they pursue things that they hope will bring them closer to happiness and the ultimate truth of what paradise is.

So, that brings me to the thing that I want to happen in order for people to get to their truth. I want people to be free to explore every road so that they can find their way to achieving their dreams of peace, prosperity, and salvation. That means that anything which obstructs us from exploring another part of our ultimate question should be removed.

There, I think I've got it now.

I am going to remove all barriers that prevent young people from exploring themselves, their country, and the rest of the world. And I will do so in a careful, thoughtful fashion that takes as many other factors into consideration as possible while doing so.

Phew, that wasn't quite as hard as I thought.

Now I've just got to go out and find the things that are impeding our journey of discovery.

Wish me luck.


World Peace.
Jordan

Reflection

I was talking to my Mom, Dad, and some other people about what I posted the other day relating to my feelings of nationalism. Through discussing the issue with them at length, I have come to a few realizations about what we are as a nation.

First of all, I think that Canada has a national identity, and a strong one at that, I just haven't found it yet. Secondly, it came up in our discussions that what I was demanding to know from the world were also things that I was demanding to know from myself. I have yet to forge myself in the fires that will make me who I am, and I'm itching to find out what I will become.

So, if Canada has a strong identity, what is it?

Well for one, we have an excellent reputation abroad as diplomats and peacekeepers, a legacy started and continued by Lester Pearson during the 1950's and 1960's that continues today. Secondly, we don't throw our weight around like our neighbours to the south. Granted, when they throw their weight in our direction we tend to comply more often than not. But when left to our own devices, we don't pursue any action without first considering it in depth.

Canada is a wide open expanse of land, full of green forests, rugged tundra, and golden plains. We are connected to three of the world's oceans and have the world's second largest landmass. If America is the land of the free, Canada is freedom itself.

This freedom is expressed in our laws as well. Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is embedded in the Constitution, making it far more effective at protecting our democratic, legal, mobility, equality, economic, fundamental, bilingual, and many other rights. Freedom is something that Canada personifies and emulates.

Speaking of equality, as Canadians we value acceptance. As a multicultural nation, we accept people of every set of stripes and from all walks of life inside our borders. We take in refugees, we give the underprivledged homes, and we give the people of the world a chance for a brighter future. Instead of assimilating all of those inside our borders, we allow them to exist as mini-nations in their own right, adding to our own cultural richness. Our multiculturalism is like a buffet of beliefs, you can try a little bit of everything until you find the stuff you like, and then everyone's happy.

Of course, Canada is particularly famous for being bilingual. I'm not exactly sure, but I'll bet that we are the only developed country to have two official languages. Again, this symbolizes our cultural acceptance of others and our values of equality.

Canada is also reliable. If we committ to something, we follow through. In Afghanistan, we voted to go in and help rebuild their nation. We have not backed out, and we have maintained our committment to that country and also to our Allies. The world depended on us to take aciton, and we followed through. Now that we are nearing the end of the time that we said we would stay there until, we are having a fair, public debate on whether we want to stay longer or not. This excercise in democratic fair process is excellent and noteworthy, one that countries around the world can look at and follow.

One thing that my dad and I talked about in particular last night is the notion that you don't have to make a lot of noise to be a leader. Just because Canada doesn't make a lot of noise doesn't mean that we're not world leaders. We are. We just don't advertise it to the rest of the world like America does.

Now that I look at these things that I have said about Canada, I can identify these values and charcteristics within myself. And I can say that I am proud of them. These values are shared by the resrt of the country, and they make me who I am. They make me Canadian.

True North, Strong and Free.

Oh Canada.



World Peace
Jordan


P.S. I've decided to no longer call myself Duck. It was a weird sort of randomness that I took a shine to, and I no longer feel that way.

A Rant

I've taken much of my time lately just writing poetry and putting random school works up here, but now is the time to ponder again in prose.

I've been reading an autobiography recently by Peter C. Newman, a Czech-born Canadian journalist behemoth who reported for Maclean's and the Toronto Star during the last half of the 20th Century.

One of the points that he brings up in his reflection is Canada's lack of nationalism.  It irks me as well that a country so privileged with the status as a G8 nation doesn't have pride in itself or it's accomplishments.   Moreover, our lack of nationalism leads to the decline of things that we can invest our collective spirit in and call a Canadian icon.

Our government is dragged around by a foreign policy leash tugged on by the United States. Our greatest hero did not change the world but instead played our most beloved sport. The international community looks on us not with the fondness it used to, and they think that we live in an ice covered paradise and live in igloos, driving dogsleds to work and playing hockey everyday afterwards.

We have no identity. No one knows who we are, except for maybe our flag. This has been excellently illustrated by Rick Mercer's special "Talking to Americans" report. Not even our neighbours to the south can name the capital of our country, while our own children could name a dozen states south of the border.

We have had few leaders that inspire us like the modern political superstar Barack Obama. We have few TV shows that are made and acted in by Canadian prodigies. All of our well-educated youth go south of the border to make their bucks, and as a result our country is worse off.

Those students see little reason to stay. America is the land of opportunity. It's where the money is, the power is, and where real life is.

I want Canada to be a great nation. I want us to have international respect, and I want us to do and build a great global community. For a country that regularly tops the Human Development Index, we have so much that we can offer our neighbours, and the rest of the world.

We should draft education legislation that encourages Canadian students to stay in Canada to live and work before trucking south. We should modify our defense budget and legislation so that we can have armed forces we can be proud of. We should separate our foreign policy from that of the United States and actively pursue it so we can find our own place in the world. We should make ourselves aware of what we have accomplished, and set a fire in the heart of every Canadian to do great things.

I don't like feeling disappointment in my country. It's political leaders, it's reputation abroad, any of it.

And I'll bet that you don't either.

So go out there and demand it.