Canada has an election next week. Politics aside, the Conservative party slogan has been bugging me and now I know why.
“It’s time for you to get ahead.”
Not “us.”
When I first came to Canada from the U.S. one of the things that stood out for me was a subtle but telling difference in language. Driving north, I saw a billboard that read “Let’s remember…” Let us, together, for the good of all. Once I noticed it, I saw that same framing in many other places as well.
I don’t see that as much in the States. I still love my first country but I’m not blind to its faults, either. There’s a lot more “Do this” followed by ”here’s how you’ll benefit,” sometimes accompanied by “or else.” Not “let’s come together to build a better world” but “look out for yourself.” The unstated follow-up is that no one else will. Not so here. No country is perfect, of course, but there’s a reason folks here can see a doctor or fill a prescription and not break the budget.
This tendency to work for the communal good is one of the many things I love about Canada, and one of the things that, regardless of political party, I hope we all remember.
Photo by Nathaniel Bowman on Unsplash
J.R. Johnson 
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