I woke up this morning to find a rather interesting comment on yesterday’s post about Christmas. My first instinct was to delete it, with all the other spam I get. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to approve it. Finally it struck me that the author had put so much thought into it, that I couldn’t just let it sit in obscurity, buried under a post. This comment deserved to be seen by everyone. Here’s what they had to say…
Maybe you should go back to Canada since you don’t like America very much, except for the job you took away from an American.
Signed: A Proud American, from WA
Now there are so many problems with this comment, that I hardly know where to begin. I do have to point out that this comment was in reply to a post about Christmas. Apparently the commenter believed that by leaving the States and returning to Canada, I would be able to escape the stresses of Christmas. Perhaps they weren’t aware that we have Christmas in Canada too. Granted, the traffic isn’t as bad because we’re all on dog sleds, and a Christmas tree doesn’t fit in the average igloo. But we have plenty of pine trees (those being the only kind that can grow in the extreme cold up there) that we can hide our presents under.
In fact, Christmas is a mostly global phenomenon — you might be surprised to learn that Christ wasn’t even born in America. He was actually born in Bethlehem, in what we know today as Israel. His birth is celebrated around the world.
Speaking of global phenomenon, my employer is also global. I got the job in Canada, and could have chosen to work out of the Edmonton office, if I’d wanted. I decided against it though, because I was sick of wearing snow shoes all the time, and wanted to see what living in a first world country would be like. I guess you could argue that I stole my cubicle from an American — but you’d have to convince the two Asians on either side of me about that first.
Which reminds me, I needed to ask, what generation immigrant are you? Second, or third? Perhaps your family came over on the Mayflower, and you can proudly proudly trace your lineage back to the first people to steal this land from its original inhabitants — when they were done conquering and displacing them, that is.
After a brief look at history and understanding that, save for the Native Americans, 100% of your citizens are immigrants or descended directly from immigrants — my own son being an American citizen himself and having as much claim to this country as you — it would seem that temporarily working here under a legitimate NAFTA Visa would be one of the most innocuous forms of “immigration” imaginable.
Finally (only because I’m restraining myself here), I need to make clear that I don’t hate America. I’m opposed to its current war, and not in favor of its current President — but I’m in good company, as 61% of your countrymen are opposed to the war, and 71% of you disapprove of your President along with me. Aside from those things, and the declining US Dollar (which is no fault of mine), we actually quite like this place. As I pointed out, not two days ago, mostly you folks are pretty great people… Mostly.