Canada, you're the sweetest.
Last week, a few Canadians decided that Americans needed some positivity within this never-ending black hole of an election season. They know we're all worried and stressed about the future of our country. This election has truly brought out some of our worst qualities, and now we're left to pick up the pieces of months of destructive rhetoric and controversy. So, Canadian citizens thought that they'd help us wade through the constant bombardment of negativity to see that, despite our multitude of problems, we've got some good qualities after all.
The initiative was started by a Toronto based company called the Garden Collective that advises business brands on everything from marketing strategy to production issues. They launched a website along with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages as a way to voice all the good things they think about America. The video that kicked the whole campaign off can be found here.
In addition to sending in individual video submissions for the site, many Canadian citizens also took to twitter to fill up the #TellAmericaItsGreat hashtag. From our beautiful national parks to the infamous 'Carlton dance' originating on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, they came up with a lot of nice, and sometimes silly, things to recognize and praise us for. Here are a few of my favorite tweets:
And there's plenty more where that came from. Go check out the hashtag for yourself!
And listen, I know some of you will feel obligated to cast this initiative aside as just another way to ignore or normalize the injustices and problems that are ever-present in our country. I promise that I am aware of our issues with systemic racism, the education system, economic inequality, and countless more things. All of those problems and more absolutely exist and need to be brought to the attention of every citizen. But not with a Canadian website and twitter hashtag meant simply to cheer us up. Maybe we should just accept this campaign for what it is: an act of kindness in an otherwise depressing political climate. No, this movement won't solve our political issues or help us deal with what's to come after November 8th. No, America is not perfect. It never was and probably never will be. Further, what the tweets actually say doesn't really matter, either. It's the thought that counts. Canada just wanted to let us know that even when things seem really bad, we should keep fighting for what's right, continue working towards a more just and fair society, and try to stay hopeful that things will get better. And that, along the way, it's okay to remember all the things in our country that are great.
I think Twitter user Anthony Basco has it right when he says that we should strive to be the America that Canada thinks we are.
#TellCanadaThankYou for pushing us to be our best and comforting us with your kind words when things are really rough down here. You know what, Canada? You're pretty great, too.
