If you follow this blog, you'll know that I'm in my sixth year of permanent residence, living full time in Toronto, Canada. I write for a living and have moderate success at it. No complaints. I have reached that point in my immigration story where I am so divorced from the day to day life I had in the US that when I do return home (which I have for a couple weeks now), I no longer identify with anything from the culture to even the daily struggles my friends and family face.
If nothing else, I am reinforced in be belief in how different Canada and the US are. Here in the US, my family and friends are constantly thinking about money - how to get more, how to save more, how much someone else has, how unfairly they are paid, how they are taxed and what they don't get out of it, how someone else's money problems are not their problem. The Seattle area is experiencing what can only be called a homeless emergency - forget the stories you hear about Amazon and Microsoft. Here on their own turf, the richest companies in the world are driving the marginal out of their homes and onto the streets - literally. Homeless encampments are such a fixture that they have their own ID numbers and are governed by rules and committees like a neighbourhood association.
This was not the Seattle I lived in. Not the Seattle of million-dollar homes and 24-hour traffic. The city I used to live in comes across as poorly managed, socially wanting, and lacking compassion.
You know I don't have rose-coloured, I-drank-the-koolaide glasses on about Canada or Toronto. It's an expensive city to live in and there are issues certainly with housing. But the focus of life I experience from friends and family rarely revolves around money. Social injustice is recognized and steps to right wrongs are ever on the agenda - not pushed aside until they reach crisis mode (with the exception being issues of the far north, where indigenous Canadians do indeed suffer in isolation, lack of health services and even fresh water).
As for the current distraction of the US with the read-headed idiot they elected to run the country - in the Canadian system, he would already have lost a confidence vote and been stripped of power. The national political body of the US is a pathetic group of worthless millionaires who would rather debate taking a knee at an NFL game than providing healthcare, housing, or basic human services to the most vulnerable of their own citizens.
These two countries - my two homes, for I'm almost Canadian and will always be American - they couldn't be more different. And I know where my heart is now, for certain. I tell my friends that Canada "suits me" - it fits who I am, but maybe more important, who I want to be: someone who cares about others and does something about it. Someone who knows what money is good for, but doesn't covet or worship it. Someone who knows when my neighobor is taken care of, I am better off too.
Not even here a week and I'm ready to go home. To Canada. Maybe my appointment for my citizenship ceremony will await me there?
If nothing else, I am reinforced in be belief in how different Canada and the US are. Here in the US, my family and friends are constantly thinking about money - how to get more, how to save more, how much someone else has, how unfairly they are paid, how they are taxed and what they don't get out of it, how someone else's money problems are not their problem. The Seattle area is experiencing what can only be called a homeless emergency - forget the stories you hear about Amazon and Microsoft. Here on their own turf, the richest companies in the world are driving the marginal out of their homes and onto the streets - literally. Homeless encampments are such a fixture that they have their own ID numbers and are governed by rules and committees like a neighbourhood association.
This was not the Seattle I lived in. Not the Seattle of million-dollar homes and 24-hour traffic. The city I used to live in comes across as poorly managed, socially wanting, and lacking compassion.
You know I don't have rose-coloured, I-drank-the-koolaide glasses on about Canada or Toronto. It's an expensive city to live in and there are issues certainly with housing. But the focus of life I experience from friends and family rarely revolves around money. Social injustice is recognized and steps to right wrongs are ever on the agenda - not pushed aside until they reach crisis mode (with the exception being issues of the far north, where indigenous Canadians do indeed suffer in isolation, lack of health services and even fresh water).
As for the current distraction of the US with the read-headed idiot they elected to run the country - in the Canadian system, he would already have lost a confidence vote and been stripped of power. The national political body of the US is a pathetic group of worthless millionaires who would rather debate taking a knee at an NFL game than providing healthcare, housing, or basic human services to the most vulnerable of their own citizens.
These two countries - my two homes, for I'm almost Canadian and will always be American - they couldn't be more different. And I know where my heart is now, for certain. I tell my friends that Canada "suits me" - it fits who I am, but maybe more important, who I want to be: someone who cares about others and does something about it. Someone who knows what money is good for, but doesn't covet or worship it. Someone who knows when my neighobor is taken care of, I am better off too.
Not even here a week and I'm ready to go home. To Canada. Maybe my appointment for my citizenship ceremony will await me there?
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