Posts Tagged ‘Canada’

My name is Chris Blackwell, and I AM CANADIAN

Monday, March 1st, 2010

Last night I watched the closing ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and what I felt and thought was truly remarkable. Dozens of celebrities stood up and proudly proclaimed they were Canadian. The highlight of the night for me was Michael J. Fox standing in the center of the stage, telling the world that just because he has lived in the US for the last 30 years, he is Canadian and proud of it. I am proud too!

I don’t often advertise on this website that I am Canadian, and I try to stay clear of geographical specific information so not to leave out anyone. However, I felt the absolute need today to tell everyone, and remind others, I am Canadian. The last two weeks have been absolutely magical. I’m not talking about the record setting 14 gold medals (although that was nice too). I am talking about watching my country come together and cheer as a single nation united. In my lifetime I have never seen this in Canada. It was absolutely magical, heart warming, and has left me with a lifetime of memories.

Canadians are a very special group of people. We have such a diverse country, both geographically and ethnically. We are a bi-lingual country (french and english), but a large percentage of our population speaks other languages. Quite often Canadians talk about their heritage proudly, whether it be from Franch, England, China, Jamacia, Finland, Italy, etc, but the last two weeks, everyone was Canadian, and no other flags were waved. It didn’t matter if you were not a sports fan, or didn’t care for the Olympics, everyone wanted to be part of the winter games. We dared to believe, and believe we did.

There were so many moments that made these Olympics stand out for me. There was the incredible story of Joannie Rochette, who was set to compete in woman’s figure skating before her mom sadly past away of a heart attack while on her way to see Joannie skate. Joannie decided to skate anyway, and carried the country on her shoulders as she won the bronze medal. She was given the honor of holding the flag during the closing ceremonies and I believe no one else deserved it more than she.

The moment I will remember the most was not one of victory, but one of loss and selflessness. Mellisa Hollingsworth was one of the favourites to win gold in the woman’s skeleton race. Unfortunately it was not meant to be and she ended up with a 5th place finish. Hollingsworth was in tears after her 5th place finish. She told Canada with tears in her eyes,

“It’s really hard. I feel like I’ve let my entire country down.”

She didn’t.

Tags: 2010, Canada, Olympics, Vancouver
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