When I made this top a couple of years ago, I was proud that I had a Canadian symbol to show my pride in the country that I call home. It is not a piece that I wear often. It is something that I consider wearing to a Canada Day event or on National Flag of Canada Day. And sometimes, during the hot weather I might pull this lightweight cotton top out of the closet.
As I watch the news in absolute disgust over the past few weeks of flag defacing and wearing anarchists disrupt our peaceful country while hiding behind the rhetoric that it's about Covid-mandates. Let's get serious, this is not about mandates. This is about foreign actors and a minority group of Canadians trying to overthrow our democratically-elected government and some of the Conservative politicians who are happy to back them.
Let me jump off the soap box and bring this back to the printed fabric. As Ian Brown wrote in an essay piece for the Globe and Mail this weekend, "[t]hose who wave the Canadian flag do not get to define it for everyone." I wear my maple leaf printed shirt today because I believe in all the good that Canada represents and that we're a work in progress towards a loving and just community. I believe in democracy and I wear the maple leaf printed shirt in support of the emergency measures act being invoke with the hope the civility and peace can be restored.
Wearing this symbol, just like wearing a face mask, is an act of love.
Stay Safe, Stay Peaceful and Keep Sewing!
It's not about mandates...It's about border security
ReplyDeleteand right wing nut jobs from the United States funding a protest (70+%) against a country securing their southern border
I am actually very proud of the Canadian "anarchists" I wish the USA would do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteKay, that makes me sad that you would would wish the same thing in your part of the world. We have seen angry people protesting and yelling outside of schools for students to take off their masks. Some of these "anarchists" yell at strangers to take off their masks as they walk down the street minding their own business. In another part of the country, some protesters were arrested for plotting murder against RCMP. Court injunctions against constant horn blowing are ignored. I feel sorry for the public and their families who can not live their lives in peace. This is a very sad and scary situation for a lot of Canadians. I would not wish this situation on anyone or any country.
ReplyDeleteI totally support, you, Kay. I was brought up in school where every day we started with a prayer (convent school) and then a pledge of allegiance to our country. I was in Girls Scouts and it was an honor to carry our flag in our Memorial Day parades. To see people today use any country's flag as a manner of protest, whatever the cause, to stab people with it in their eyes and permanently blind them, to wave it around like it is a toy or an instrument of torture, your call. is utterly disgusting and unpatriotic in every way for me. I have dear friends who died for that flag and for our freedoms. It breaks my heart to think about that now and how there is no respect whatsoever being shown for the flag, it's history, it's meaning, and it's importance to ALL of a country's citizens. We learned early on in school, Girl Scouts, and other opps, how to treat a flag, shine a lot on it when hung at night, never fly it in the dark, give to those who have given their life for their country and all the protocols involved in such an important icon of freedom. Today I see people who have no clue about their history. They use their flag as a tool to show hate and disrupt the lives of citizens who just want to go about their lives peacefully. It is truly shameful. I would have a lot more respect for the points of view that I often disagree with if people expressed their viewpoints intelligently with solid argument over policy and with reason. Instead we have many who can't respond to the most basic questions on the history of their own countries or the current events or policies behind the what they claim to be protesting. You see over and over. My heart is with the Canadian people who I so love and respect having lived right on the border for many years and having had many good friends who were Canadians and having done a lot of "back and forth" on those bridges. I am so impressed with how this is being handled but it so typically Canadian, thoughtful, polite and with as little negative impact as possible. Wish I could say the same for our country. I hope one day all people of our countries return to respecting our flags and learn and love what they represent and stop using them so disrespectfully. My friends who died for it and myself would greatly appreciate that.
ReplyDelete