We Are Canadians (Last Post Until September)

When lines are long
inside the corner coffee shop,
or when the drive-through’s
all backed up to boulevard’s blacktop,
we don’t butt in line
or nudge a place ahead.
We take a spot and join the queue,
until the server says,
What can I get for you?
We are Canadians.

When winter shows its face and scowls
at those who have no place to go,
or when an illness brings on stormy seas
and tosses someone to and fro,
we don’t hold tight to what we’ve got
or look the other way.
We go out and give our time for free.
We donate what we have,
so another, has another day to see.
We are Canadians.

When folks come here
to find a place to call their own,
after fleeing distant lands
and having left a life that they had known,
we don’t say,
Go back to where you’re from
because you don’t belong.
We welcome each to join our multi-culture cast,
for deep within our hearts we know,
that all who come have each a part to play,
and will in time add vibrance to the show.
We are Canadians.

When there’s a heated disagreement
over others’ rights today,
or a conflict to be settled
by a single nay or yea,
we don’t fly into a rage
and try to knock some sense into the other person’s head.
We are polite and have respect
when another says it straight,
and with diplomacy we then engage
in passionate debate.
We are Canadians.

When a group has got
an issue of dissent,
or think that they have
not been treated with a fair intent,
we don’t march them off in cuffs
like other places in the world.
We gather everyone to talk it through,
and hammer out a compromise
that brings out something new.
We respect their right to orderly protest,
’cause we abide by rule of law,
and have the courts, with which we have been blessed.
We are Canadians.

So today,
let’s celebrate the values we hold dear,
as we sort our differences from far and near.
For the difference is,
an act of parliament created us at birth,
and not by revolution’s arms
that we fired on this good earth.
We’ve learned that change evolves,
slowly over many a generation,
and by exercising these same norms,
we take up the task of perfecting and protecting
God’s creation.
We are Canadians.

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