Why have we allowed this to happen? Why have we let it spread; like wild fire out of control, clear across this country we call Canada? Why have we let this political correctness fetish blemish the rights of the many mixed cultures that struggled, both body and soul, to build this wonderful multi-cultured, multi-tongued, so-called bi-lingual, land that we pride ourselves in calling Canada.
This is not a rite that is included in the thinking of common sense people, nor is it contained as an indicative direction within our constitution, from which our elected political leaders have no right to stray. The whims of a relative few, are derogatorily warping the wishes and aims of the multi-various retained cultures that have mixed and mingled, without noticeable conflict, throughout generations. It is exactly that which has made Canada, what it is, Canada.
The natural gentle flow of evolution, through the mingling of cultures, inter- racial marriage, and mixing of religions, have always been, and will always be, with us; so why are we building mountains out of mole hills. It is only the peoples of the First Nations that suffer the deprivation of heritage not stemming from some other world country. Should skin colour be ambiguous, while hair colour not a point of contention? Why then, are we so psyched about the whether or not our speech is politically correct?
Do you not think that we are slighting the intelligence of our new Canadians by changing this and changing that, including the discarding of prayer in our schools? Let them make up their own minds as to what they wish, or wish not, to follow. After all, they have chosen to come to this country because they know it is one of the best. They have recognized Canada as a leader.
They have chosen to come here because of the freedoms they know that we have. And they have come to this country knowing that there will be a language challenge, and changes to which they adapt to, and accept, not conquer.
So why are we insulting their intelligence, by trying to adapt the minority’s wishes, to avoid hurting the assumed feelings that may, or may not, be their’s. By doing so we are just stirring the cauldron, adding fuel to the fire, adding insult to injury that has driven them, in the first place, from the politically botched, country of their birth.
I grew up in a multi-cultured society. Being raised on mixed farming, and market gardening, by parents who stood, each week, for 37 years, on the Guelph Farmer’s Market. I started making change, at our sales stand, to help out, at a very young age. And political correctness was neither a thought nor was it a concern. I found it to be fun to try and guess the nationality of the different accents, and broken English, that I encountered. I usually had to ask either Dad or Mother.
That’s the Dutch egg lady, down at the end. Or he is the Pollock that your brother works with. She is the wife of the Catholic Frenchman up the road. That is the Chinaman from the restaurant where we eat. She is Ukrainian; he is the Czechoslovakian from up the hill. It was his third line Czech friend, who you couldn’t understand, that visited us last week. And here comes the Italian wine maker from down in the Ward; he has a fruit stand down beside the German butcher. And that coloured lady lives up around the corner, not too far from here, she works for the Doctor; we deliver eggs to their place on Thursdays. On and on the conversations went with no thought of political correctness, correct English, or fear of hurting one’s feelings, by explicit understood explanation.
Each and every one of those folks we met were proud of their heritage and proud too, when they gained their Canadian citizenship status. Some of the adults, it is true, had difficulty adapting, having trouble with speech, and often asked me how to pronounce a word, but their children, left to their own wishes, had little or no problem.
Could it not be that we should be more cautious with our prevailing mode of thought, clear across the board? As the words of a well worn song predicts, and I quote: “What ever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see.” And let the natural flow of evolution take place, as it will, on its own, as proven in the past, with little or no conflict. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Take care, ‘cause we care.
