Sweet land of liberty! A little while ago I pondered the question if your nationality affected you as a blogger? After spending a week on vacation, camping in Idaho, I have a few thoughts on how America affects Americans, from a Canadian perspective. Ha! Can I even do this? Well I am.
Once again, I am speaking in generalities and just making observations. About two months ago, I was in Vegas. I was overwhelmed, but Vegas is no place to make general judgments about America. But Idaho feels like a good place. It’s a little more realistic.
You might say that Canadians have a bit of a mania about being compared to Americans. It would likely be fair to say we are often overshadowed by the magnitude of America. But the truth is we are extremely similar to America, in many ways. We hold very similar values, but there are small differences that make us individual.
In my last Nationality and Blogging post, I was concerned about having Authority. And I wonder if this push for authority comes from the congested areas of the world. The west side of Idaho is very similar to Alberta (the province where I live). Trees, hills, mountains, lakes, rivers and ranchers. One major difference is simply the amount of people. Canada has some 30 million people. America has 300 million. Even in Idaho, I could feel the swell of people. It’s a subtle difference, but once you sense it, the feeling doesn’t go away (or it didn’t for me). Therefore, I can’t help but wonder if the necessity to be noticed amongst the crowd only increases.
So how do you Americans stand out in such a big crowd? Perhaps that’s not a question I can answer. But the people along the trip who stood out to me were the honest ones. Like the woman at the gas station who made fun of me for asking the time when there were clocks on every single wall. The border guards, who had a lot of authority, were just another face in the crowd.
But, I open the floor to you American or non-American bloggers once again. Let me hear what you have to say.
Photo by Hot Ash
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7 Comments
So why did you ask what time it was if there were clocks on every wall?
Well, I was really asking if we were in Pacific time, but she took the opportunity to get a tease in. Which was fun. The Americans in Idaho were extremely friendly/witty.
Today, I think the “stand out” Americans are the sincere ones, the genuine ones. American can be a “get mine, worry about ME” world, and I think the person who (as corny as this sounds) lends a hand, helps a random person in need are the people to pay attention to. The border guards blended into the scene. But I ask this, if the guard lent a smile or SINCERELY asked how you were doing, would he have stood out to you?
I absolutely agree with you. It’s true that I was attempting to make an over-generalization about border guards, people of authority, but when people are genuine I definitely pay attention.
Hi!
This is Axel of the BBC World Service in London. I am working for “World Have You Say”, or discussion programm that runs daily from 6 to 8 pm London time, which is in 3 hours. Todays show is on national identity. The question is how we define that (language? patriotism?) or whether it is completely unimportant. We always like to include bloggers to the discussion, and after reading your blog I wondered whether you would like to participate in todays live discussion. We would greatly appreciate it.
Best Regards,
Axel
My American friend just visited Toronto/Quebec a few weeks ago. She said Canadians are no different than Americans, except in Quebec just because they speak with French accent.
I agree with her.
I don’t know why (or if any) Canadians feel they have to be different than Americans. The cultures are the same. The influences are the same. We’re only separated by an imaginary border, not enough to keep both sides from being indistinguishable.
Me, personally, don’t care if I’m labelled Canadian or American. They’re both good to me.
Being from Wales I have a similar experience of England. The Welsh and the Scots repeadly get referred to English. Great Britain and the UK are also referred to as English. The odd thing is that you could argue that the heritages of the Welsh and the Scots are richer, and less diluted than the English. After all, Welsh is the oldest European language that’s still being actively used.
It’s often Americans who make the mistake, and I have in the past compared calling me English to calling an American Canadian. After all, you are their bigger neighbours! And fir the record, I’m not anti-English, I live and work in England.
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