聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 I had a good laugh the other day. As I was reading through random news articles as I do I came across one that involved photos a lady caught on camera in Vancouver of a Canada goose and bald eagle embroiled in a bitter battle鈥� well not really a battle, the eagle was sitting atop the goose, the goose escaped and took off, and the eagle pursued until deciding it could go after easier prey.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The comments under the photos though were priceless. The Canada goose came to represent all of Canada and the bald eagle was the United States. The War of 1812 was brought up and people had turned the photos into a cultural battle, which made me shake my head.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The War of 1812 was cited as the War of 1814 and that the Americans won that fight, just like the eagle had won the one versus the goose. I cringed a little bit as a history lover鈥� it was more of a draw than anyone really winning, did territory change or were reparations paid? Nope. The British forces won a few battles, the Americans won a few battles, but in the end the war was over by the time the Americans won their big battle in 1814 because forces simply hadn鈥檛 heard the fighting was over already. The treaty was signed in Europe because Canada wasn鈥檛 Canada until 1867, they were British North America.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Although the white house is white because the British forces burned it and they are the only foreign force to have occupied Washington D.C., so there鈥檚 a couple of claims to fame there. Americans thought that the people living in Upper and Lower Canada wanted to be part of the United States, but discovered this was not the case.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The comments were kind of funny because the majority of Americans were taking the stance that the eagle had won and thus they were better than Americans. Some Americans took to defending Canadians though, pointing to Canadians knowing the American national anthem and singing it in Toronto a couple of years ago when the microphone cut out halfway through the performance.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Another American took to drawing parallels in the fight in a different way, alluding to the United States being a bully, and cynically writing: 鈥淪o this 鈥楢merican鈥� Bald Eagle doles out some violence, doesn't accomplish much of anything aside from making a scene, and eventually just gives up, presumably to pick on some other animal. I honestly cannot think of a more appropriate bird to represent our proud nation.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 But despite the banter between Americans and a few Canadians piping up to clarify a few things like the dates of the War of 1812, the Canadian descriptions of the same fight between goose and eagle were absolutely wonderful. The one that made me laugh the most was the following description of the battle: 鈥淸Canada] geesewill mess you up. That's why us Canadians are so polite and friendly all the time; once a year, during the four days when the ice melts, we take our canoes on a long and dangerous journey, fending off polar bears and lumberjacks until we reach the sacred land of Toronto where we cover ourselves in maple syrup and perform a hockey ritual that transfers all our aggressiveness into the geese. They hold within them the cold rage of a frozen nation.鈥�
