Sticking up for us

It has come to my attention that the world isn't so happy with Canada.

I read a lot of news, and a great deal of the foreign news I see is critical. And I'm tempted to dismiss it, because whoever hosts a huge international event is ripe for criticism. We live in a sad world where bitterness and anger get more readers than accolades, and most papers pay people to write nastiness when they could focus on achievements. I get that. Which is why I ignore it most of the time.

And I want to this time, but this is MY country and MY city and I'm sick of people denigrating us. We're overlooked, the butt of jokes, dismissed and patronized in everything from sports to foreign policy. But the fact is that we get as many things right and as many things wrong as anyone else, in the Games or in anything else. There hasn't been a Winter Olympics that goes off without a hitch -- there are always problems organizing something of such magnitude. And while I do think there are things that could have gone better, we don't have any control over such things as weather and I think that there are hundreds of small things that we've done right that no one has even noticed. (You never notice when things run smoothly, right?)

Fact is we've done a damn good job of welcoming a quarter of a million people to our city, and making sure they can have a place to sleep, places to eat, and the ability to get to venues.

And what's more is, I'm sorry, but we are proud of ourselves. The media that suggests that humble Canada is more palatable ... well, screw you. We've been humble and self-effacing for years and what we get for it is more jokes and more dismissals. And when we finally get the opportunity to blow our own horn like everyone else does we get slammed.

F*ck that. Canada is an awesome place to live, and the world knows it, and maybe part of that is because we are self-effacing, but that's only part of it. We have a great country, and it's time that we stood up and said so. It's not bragging or saying we're better, but we damn well have the right to say We're good, dammit.

Not better. Just good.