We were at a party on July 1st and they have a flag pole in their yard so in the evening they “raised” the Canadian flag and then sang “Oh Canada”. I couldn’t do it…and I had to think on why that was. Not because I am not proud of being a Canadian (granted I was wearing my Mickey Mouse tank with the US flag on it)…but because I couldn’t stand there “praising” my country like that. Why though???
I love living in Canada and I would equally love living in the US, but either way, I don’t think I could stand at the flag and “worship” it the way people want me to. I think that is why I can’t do it, it seemed like it was being “worshiped”. The only God I worship is well…Jesus…and he is the only one I will stand like that for. Sure I was born in this country and I am proud to be a Canadian (sort of), but it is Jesus/God who I worship and it is because of him that I can live so proudly and faithfully. This country offers me opportunity (and so would the US if they would let me in), but it is Jesus/God that offers me my soul, which is so much more important. No matter what country I live in (Canada or the US), my soul is the most important because that is who I am and what moulds me.
For those people who enjoy standing around the flag and singing the national anthem, there is nothing wrong with that either…it just isn’t for me. I totally felt so uncomfortable with it, that I knew I had to figure out why it bugged me. Not sure if my explanation cleared anything up for others, but I think it helped me understand myself a little better. We are all different and that is the great thing about living in our two countries, the freedoms we do have.