Commentary
Nothing, not even maple syrup, can rival the cottage as a Canadian icon. But lately our love affair with nature is becoming a bit of a non-country song because we overwhelmingly live in big cities where a sterile monocultured lawn is as green as it gets. And when you try to put kids back in touch with real trees, lakes, birds, and bugs instead of this abstract “viyerminn” teachers keep urging them to save from capitalism, guess what.
Before I tell you, I should concede that stupid things have always happened where humans are involved. Some are funny, some tragic, and some both. (Once again, with Chesterton, I insist that the opposite of “funny” isn’t “serious,” it’s “not funny.”) Had I been reading the Stirpes Nationalis around the time Caesar was gasping out his last convoluted quip to Brutus, or Elagabalus setting tongues wagging, I would doubtless have gone O tempora o mores with the optimes. But I would have been right that some small, silly, infuriating items really do indicate large and ominous trends….