We grow up thinking that Canadians are so very polite. We say please and thank you and wear our Maple Leaf patches on our backpacks and luggage when we travel because we hold a reputation around the world for being polite. I'm glad we hold this sort of title. It's great- Doesn't it feel good to be known as "Nice" people? I hope that we instill these values into "our" [collective] children. I think a sense of entitlement can easily creep into our fibres because of where we live in the world and how much access we have to the resources around us. When we feel this sense of entitlement, we aren't humble and we often take things for granted. But here comes the idea I've been thinking about over the last little while.
Although Canadians may be polite, I believe we are not a hospitable people. There have been a couple of instances over the past few weeks where I've realized that Canadians have bought into such an individualistic mindset that too often [we] don't make any special effort to welcome others and enjoy their company. Now that may sound a little extreme, I know, but it's my observations and experience. When we travel one of the most striking things is how generous other people are. You always hear people say, "Although they had very little, the people we met gave of themselves and wanted to give us all that they had." I wonder why we don't invite poeple over to our homes. A few weeks ago the Canucks were playing in the Stanley Cup play-offs. We made it to game seven of the Stanley Cup game (but didn't come out victorious this time). I make references to this becuase it really grabbed my attention how this event brought communities together. This game brought people together. Some pepole follow hockey and some jumped on board when we made it to the play-offs to rally behind Vancouver's team. I say all of this to build up to when I went downtown Vancouver for Game 7 with three friends to join in the excitement of the final game. We went to the big screens that were set up for people to come watch the game at; however, we left that place after the first period because we were getting trampled and you could sense that the crowd's disposition was not very friendly. So we left the square looking for a new place to observe the game. My suggestion was to just knock on someone's door and see if we could join them in watching the game. This idea was immediately shot down. Now, I understand that the area we were in consists mostly of apartment buildings, so it's not like my neighborhood; however, I couldn't understand why it would be so outrageous to to join other Canuck fans in watching the game. Truth be told, probably 95% of British Columbians were watching the game anyways! It's like everything was at a stand-still while game seven was happening. I thought to myself, if this is the most unifying events (comparable to the gold medal hockey games in the 2010 Winter Olympics), why can't we join with other proud and excited Vancouver-ites to commemorate this occasion? Why would it be so strange to see if we could join others and watch the game with them? Why would it be so crazy to "visit" with a stranger? Honestly, I can't understand it. I feel like that would have been the most opportune time to join with strangers and rally together for a common goal, but, I guess I am the weird one. It isn't normal to knock on a stranger's door and invite oneself in. It is normal to go to a restaurant with your exclusive group and watch the game in a public place.
Am I truly Canadian or not? Lately I've been feeling this strange tension within my being that can not easily accept what our culture is like.
Can I give you example number two? I don't want this entry to sound like I'm complaining, I'm really not; it's just that everyone longs for community and somehow too often Canadians settle for less-than that. I was delivering these flyers around town to get some extra money (secret's out! yup! I'm kind of like a paper girl again). Anyways, I was in a beautiful neighbourhood that I had never even really explored before. It was pretty quiet and the houses looked nice from the outside. I had to stop on someone's front step because my cell phone rang and so I answered it. After finishing my quick conversation, I sat down on the front steps because it started to rain. The weather has been really capricious lately. I thought to myself that the rain would let up in a minute, so I figured I would wait on the front steps of this nice looking house. The owners opened the door to see who was sitting at their entrance. ME! (I don't look scary!) I explained the situation that I was delivering these flyers and it started to rain so I was just going to wait it out for a minute. The couple seemed fine with that (sort of) however after a few seconds the man came outside and sat on a chair right behind me. Feeling a little awkward I turned around and thought I'd see what he was doing. He gave me the most unfriendly look and said in a very rude voice, "Can I help you???" Once again I gave him the same explaination that I had just given about 1 minute prior. He continued to give me a very unwelcoming look and so I felt obliged to put my hood on, pick up my flyers and continue on my "merry" way.
I guess that all I have to say in response to what I've noticed in these instances is that we have adopted an individualistic mentality that has actually come to believe it is outrageous for the paper girl to sit on the front step to wait for the rain to let up.
What I'm taking from all of this is that I want to be a hospitable person. I want my neighbors to feel safe and comfortable with me. I want to offer my home to people and I pray that my future home will be a place of refuge and refreshment and that I would let others know that I have an open door policy. Three of my friends recently moved in together and they have named their home "the nest." The name is quite fitting and I have already found myself there sharing my heart with these precious women! Is it always convenient to attend to the needs of others? Probably not. But how much richer is a life when others are invited in to share the rooms with laughter, tears, stories and memories? Let's be the kind of people who embrace community.
"Lord, I want to see others the way you see them. May I walk in humility and share all that I have- because all that I have has been supplied by you."
* sorry for the blurry pictures. Maybe I will try to re-shoot them without the glare.
