Funny Money

When we were growing up, my sisters and I always had endless debates about who was more Canadian. Being Canadian was cool, being American definitely was not. Jennifer's main argument was that she was the only one to have been born in Canada. Therefore, in her mind, she was definitely more Canadian than Bethanie and I. However, I argued that I was most certainly more Canadian seeings as I had my American citizenship forced on me at birth, but chose Canadian citizenship when I was of an age to make a decision to do so. However, she never really bought the argument. Perhaps it was due to the fact that she was made an American citizen against her will, fearing that she would turned into a flag flapping in the wind after the proceedings. Little kids aren't always rational.

Oddly enough, none of us now live in Canada. Jennifer now lives in the heart of Yankee-land where they have absolutely dreadful snobby sounding accents. Bethanie has deserted the continent all together, and I live in the world of the rednecks and hillbillies many of whom were probably the Americans with big boats, big trucks, and even bigger egos who migrated to our lakes every summer and who most every one in our town loathed and certainly felt superior to. After all, we were taking their money and all they were doing was taking a few of our fish. They generally made fun of our multi-colored "monopoly money." The exchange rate which made their dollars worth more than ours certainly contributed to their attitude. Their presence wasn't entirely a misfortune since they did leave their dollars behind and always gave locals some good stupid American stories to tell.

Their are many ways in which I still to this day feel like Canada is a better country than the US is. It doesn't generally go around bombing random countries. It is fiscally much, much more responsible having run surpluses for more than a decade now. Parliamentary sessions are much more entertaining than any Congressional or Senate session here in the US. When was the last time you heard a truly entertaining sound clip from a US house of government? (Bushisms don't count.) It is a little bit less individualistic in its focus. It also has not had a history of military conflicts, violations of human rights, and even straight out genocide to the degree that the US has had. In the 1800's Native Americans fled north of the border in the West as did African American slaves. In the 1900's and first part of this century, Canada has not been the global rabble-rouser that the US has.

I'm finally seeing signs that Americans are beginning to see the superiority of their Northern neighbours. In the end it all boils to money. I've long been a fan of the $1 and $2 coins in Canada, otherwise known as the loony and toony. They actually make a pocketful of change worth something. I have this huge jar of change at home that has accumulated simply because it is a nuisance to carry around. My local grocery store recently solved the problem by installing a self-checkout line. You scan the items yourself, and then insert money into a machine to pay for it. On every trip to the grocery store, I bring along a fist-full of coins that I then feed into the money machine. It takes me about five minutes to checkout, but at least I'm getting rid of that bothersome change. But anyway, I digress. Americans are showing by their money that they are recognizing the superiority of Canadians.

I know some of you out their are so blinded by the location of your birth that you are poo-pooing the notion. However, I challenge you to look closely at the new $10 and $20 bills. They're not green anymore!!! They are slowly turning into some hideous green/pink/orange/red color. Its rather awful really. They need to just admit that the multi-colored Canadian money is more appealing and make the switch. Now if they could just get rid of the $1 bill, we'd really be talking.