Let Us Give Thanks

At precisely six o'clock this evening, I will walk out the door of Critical Path Couriers here in Toronto. At that time, yet another long weekend will begin; the last long weekend of the year.

Yes, it's Canadian Thanksgiving. I bitch and complain a lot, but when it comes down to it, Canada's a pretty good place to live - among the best places in the world to live, I'd wager.

That being said, a part of our "national character" (if there is such a thing) that's something less-than-becoming is our inferiority complex. I suspect that comes from many centuries of being made to feel "second fiddle": New France (now Quebec) being a colony of France, then everything (including conquered New France) being a colony of Britain. Since "independance" (which independence was a gradual, incremental process) we've been solidly in the shadow cast by our American neighbours. Pierre Trudeau, our most loved and hated (at the same time!) prime minister, once told an American audience, ""Living next to you is like sleeping with an elephant; no matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt."

It is perhaps for those reasons that we've taken great pains to tell the world (or at least ourselves - I can't imagine that the world listens or cares) that our Thanksgiving came first. Actually, it's a silly argument. I suspect that both Canadian and American Thanksgivings derive from local harvest festivals that have evolved over millenia. Both became "institutionalized" and nationally celebrated at about the same time.

American Thanksgiving purportes to have started with the Pilgrims, who are (wrongly) considered to be the progenitors of all (white, Protestant) Americans. Their festival has taken on sacred, pseudo-religious proportions.

Our Thanksgiving has been inspired by various late-year festivals starting with Martin Frobisher's (he of Frobisher Bay) in 1578, followed shortly thereafter by Samuel de Champlain and his Order of Good Cheer which held an autumn feast in which the local indigenous population participated. Other examples abound throughout our history.

Perhaps it is because of the geographical, cultural and temporal diversity of our early festivals, perhaps it's because we can't (or choose not to) point to a single seminal event, perhaps it is the American propensity of myth-making, but our Thanksgiving isn't the Great Big Huge Deal that it is down there. We, too, have turkey (those that eat meat - which I'm in the process of not doing anymore), we, too, have football (with a larger field and 12 men and only three downs and no one makes 10 million dollars a year, but our star quarterbacks don't bait dogs as far as we know), we to tend to have family get-togethers, but for all sorts of other reasons, it's just not the same.

It's more low-key and Canadian.

So, what do I have to give thanks for? I really like the boardwalk along Toronto's Eastern Beaches. I think it's really cool that there are such long, lovely, natural beaches right in the middle of the city (never mind that the water has high fecal-counts during much of the summer so we can't really swim or wade or anything). As you can see from the photo, many other Torontonians seem to like The Beaches, as on any sunny day (summer or winter) the boards are crowded.

I have much in my personal life to give thanks for, but I won't bore you with that. Those to whom I feel thankful have been told personally. Besides, I really just wanted to show this photo today, and tying it in with Thanksgiving seemed a good way to do it. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully you all have as much to give thanks for as I do...