Because my memory has been less than spectacular, I need this blog to remember ……………….. things I did today. Or plan to do someday. Or want to remember one day.

The Land of Maple Syrup and Gay Pride

I love Canada and every time I say this to my aunt or my grandparents, I see them throw icy stares at me, as if to say, “You were raised here in the Philippines since you were a wee little baby, now where is your loyalty, young woman?!” (my heart and loyalty resides in the Philippines….the Philippines is beautiful [but tragic]….the Philippines is home…but that’s another story…)

Today I will blog about why I love Canada… in a nutshell…the Canadian government really truly cares for its people…. In Canada, they have a very progressive educational system there where gradeschool and highschool tuition is free … their health care system is excellent and you won’t have to pay for your check-ups, your medical operations and medicine because it’s free too (except for vanity-related plastic surgery)….they are very environmentally-conscious and believe in respect and equality for everyone…they do not have any terrorist threats because they have always maintained a neutral stand waaaaaay before all those historical wars began and they have a  very diverse, multi-cultural population there so you get to meet a healthy mix of interesting and wonderful people with different backgrounds and nationalities…(I remember attending some college classes back in ‘98 and making friends with a Japanese who colored her hair a shocking orange-red, a Caucasian who sported dreadlocks, a Punjabi who wore the traditional Indian turban and a Fiji national who was about to get married to someone she had never laid her eyes on yet… I don’t think I’d get this kind of cultural education from any other classroom in the world…)

Anyways, I have just read another reason why Canada is such a great nation… today, the government of Canada passed a bill that legalizes same-sex marriages…this is a big important thing because gay people are everywhere (they may be our our aunts, uncles, friends, people we know and people we love) and they have rights and needs that need to be acknowledged, recognized and not just heard and ignored… just like straight people, it’s only fair that gay people should have the right to marry the one they love. (Though homophobes may argue that this will only promote promiscuity and the disintegration of family values, straight people aren’t exempted from falling out of relationships too y’know?) While I am currently straight right now and I don’t think I will be availing of this privilege at all, I think about all the people out there who must suffer in silence  because they cannot tell the world about the love they share with someone else because they have been socially-conditioned to feel ashamed on the grounds that it is unnatural to love someone of the same gender.

Not all my friends know that I was born during  a winter snow storm in Canada and only some of them know the real story behind the lovely railroad track on my arm too…if some people have American / Spanish / Italian or whatever foreign blood running through their veins, I’ve got a Canadian bone in my system …the scar on my arm is a remembrance of a bone transplant I had 6 years ago in Canada… so no matter  where I go, no matter how long I’ve been here in Manila, a part of me will always be proud to be Canadian for the many reasons I’ve just mentioned above.

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