Canada Day is coming up, and it's time again for flag raisings, Mounties in red serge and stetsons, and getting a facepainting of a maple leaf.
Canada is more than its outward symbols, of course. Although we're one of the most diverse countries on the planet, there are some shared values we strive to embody. Those include multiculturalism, compassion, and perhaps most usefully, self-deprecation.
As a permanent second banana (the term in international diplomacy is "middle power") we've had to learn a valuable skill 鈥� the ability to laugh at ourselves.
Canadians know we aren't the biggest country on Earth, we aren't the most powerful. We were once part of vast empires (French and British), but we were never at their centre.
Even when it comes to national stereotypes, we aren't in the same league as nations considered passionate or romantic, or efficient and studious. We're polite. Not even nice, just polite.
There is no such thing as a perfect country. Canada has its good side, its bad side, and its absurd side.
We can celebrate the good. We can work on improving the bad.
And we absolutely have to laugh at what makes us absurd.
The best-known product of our cuisine includes so much gravy and cheese curds it should come with a warning of imminent heart attack. We scream our heads off watching people slide rocks slowly down a long sheet of ice.
Our national animal is a buck-toothed rodent. The bird that bears our nation's name, the Canada goose, is an aggressive jerk.
Our national game's biggest trophy has been won (again) by a hockey team from Florida, of all places!
The absurdity of our politics ought to be pretty obvious to everyone by now. (Two separatist movements, really?)
Put all these factors together, and you can see why one of our most successful exports is comedians.
Being able to laugh at ourselves is one of the things that will keep this big, messy, complicated country together. Because if you can laugh at yourself, you can acknowledge that you're not always right 鈥� and that can lead to compromise, which is another worthwhile Canadian value.
This Canada Day, be proud of your country, but allow yourself to roll your eyes and chuckle a bit, too.
