Borderlands

Sat 28 Jul 2012 Filed in: My Life | Reflections
We've been crossing the border a lot lately, though usually not at the Peace Arch. We use a more convenient and usually less busy crossing. But I like the arch. It's stood there for almost a hundred years bearing witness to the friendly relations that exist between two countries. "CHILDREN OF A COMMON MOTHER" it says on the U.S. side, and historically, that is what the United States and Canada have been. But though we may have a common mother, it turns out that we are not identical twins.

On May 6 I married a Canadian. Our travels back and forth across the border give us plenty of opportunities to notice some of the cultural differences between these two children of a common mother. Let me point out a couple of examples. Val believes drivers on the US side are a bit more conservative than Canadians, and I have to agree. For several years I have maintained that the most dangerous drivers on I-5 in Washington are Canadian truckers. It sometimes seems to me that defensive driving is a concept that has never caught on in Canada. I think I understand why her car insurance is almost twice what mine is.

Spelling is an adventure north of the border. The Britishisms that were lost long ago south of the border remain entrenched on the Canadian side. Canadians write cheques instead of checks and might visit a civic centre to attend some colourful programme. Even as I write, my US English spell-check wants to correct these Canadianisms. To further confuse matters, everything appears in two languages, English and French, in spite of the fact that I have yet to meet anyone in Abbotsford for whom French is the primary language.

It's hard to find a store that doesn't sell bags and/or require a 25 cent deposit to use a shopping cart in Abbotsford. (In fairness, some Seattle stores have started charging for paper bags since the city in its unfathomable wisdom banned the plastic ones.) Charging for shopping bags seems to me to be akin to a restaurant adding a plate rental fee to the cost of meal.

Like most other nations both of these siblings are proud of what they are, sometimes to the point of fierce sibling rivalry that would make one question the accuracy of the Peace Arch's inscription. Occasionally we notice that when we cross the border. But we are blessed to belong to two nations that, at least for the time being, let us call them home.

What are some of the differences you have noticed between these two sibling nations??
Happy

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