Kindness to the north
I have recently returned home from a weeklong bike trip through the Canadian Rockies, followed by a multi-day ViaRail train trip to Toronto. It didn’t take long after returning home for me to be reminded how so many Americans have forgotten what civility looks like. The Canadian people overall are kind, courteous and respectful of others — this is what I remember our country being like 15 years ago. This was even borne out on the roads, where Canadian drivers display this same sort of kindness and ‘let’s get along’ behavior.
What has changed? In my opinion we now have a leader whose rude, abrasive, disrespectful and bullying manner has made it okay for so many Americans to model the same behavior. It was a breath of fresh air to escape this for two weeks and I must say I dreaded being asked “Where are you from?” as I wasn’t anxious to admit I was from “the States.” While I was truthful that I was from New Hampshire, folks would often pause to assess my stance. I used this as an opening to have some dialogue with these Canadians about the state of things at home and how they felt towards us.
I can say this from my experience, despite Governor Ayotte’s recent attempts to rebuild Canadian tourism, these lovely people will not be returning anytime soon to vacation in the U.S. They also will not be buying U.S. made goods. The strong disdain I heard towards our current administration has affected how all of us are viewed, but I did my very best to be polite, courteous, kind and respectful, to demonstrate that many of us can still practice the behaviors I remember from our not-so-distant past.