| Better things to talk about |
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| Local Content - Editorial |
| Written by production |
| Wednesday, 10 March 2010 17:00 |
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The peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan keeps costing Canadian soldiers their lives and the nation wonders what will happen to that country when the troops go home, pondering the pros and cons of what it costs to stay and what it means to leave. In Haiti an earthquake has left untold thousands devastated and rebuilding the infrastructure looks like it will be one of the biggest challenges in humanitarianism the world has ever seen. In Chili another earthquake has destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes with a toll of human life in the hundreds. Every day in Canada there seems to be another story of violence ending in horror and death. People still suffer from this ‘economic downturn’, trying to solve monetary problems by earning even more debt. In fact Canadians may have the biggest debt load of any people in the free world. Yet what are our recent headlines focussing on? Changing the shape of hot-dogs and rewording the national anthem? Hmmm... Did we miss something here? It seems studies have shown the shape of the hot-dog is dangerous to kids who tend to choke on them. Okay. We can buy that. So why don’t parents cut them into smaller pieces? Or yell across the playground in the good old-fashioned embarrassment provoking way; “hey, if you keep eating like a hog, you’re going to choke’, similar to other out-of-date phrases like ‘if you keep that up your face is going to freeze that way’ or ‘do you want me to wash your mouth out with soap?’. Where has common sense gone? In speaking to a group of 13-year-olds, some suggested we make the hot-dog into a donut shape - easier to dip into the mustard, maybe. Another suggested a square. Still another suggested the shape stay the same but it just be made way bigger so kids could hit one another with them. Gosh, sounds like the musings of any governmental focus group, doesn’t it? Perhaps the kids who were polled should get paid for their input. Nahhh... Since most of them thought we were having them on and the whole thing was just ridiculous anyway. Wonder why they thought that? As for the national anthem, when did ‘in all thy sons command’ become insulting? Most Canadians spent the last weeks in an Olympic stupor, proudly listening to this anthem as athlete after athlete proved his or her metal and made us all proud. Many Canadians found themselves singing the anthem along while it played, over and over again, on the television. Many felt a shiver tingle their spine and many shared moments of patriotism with their families, all under the Maple Leaf with the anthem playing. And now they want to change it? Why? Because this week we celebrate women and somehow changing the anthem is supposed to honour that celebration. Perhaps easily accessible daycare that is affordable would be a better way to celebrate women. Perhaps ensuring equality in employment opportunities, something which has come a long way yet still has a long way to go, would be a good way to celebrate. Perhaps focussing on women’s health issues would be a likely way to celebrate the day. Or, better yet, perhaps trying to find a way to aid women in Afghanistan, Haiti and Chili would be a better way to spend our time rather than musing on the shape of hot-dogs and a lyric in our anthem. |