Finding Your Inspiration January 29th 2026

    Being Canadian has been very important to this family.  We have served.  My grandfather Lemual McLean was old for a soldier when he went to France.  He was in the big ones.  Passchendaele,  Vimy Ridge.  He was wounded.  He was gassed.  My dad Jack McLean was first wave on D Day, on Juno Beach.  Wounded there he escaped the capture and murder of those with whom he went into action.  But he was back....in Belgium and the Netherlands.  My service pales in comparison.  Won't say I wasn't left with some mental scars.  Some entry level joint issues that have lead to arthritis.  But in reality it was a cake walk to what members of my family have seen.  My son in Law serves as did I.  Different times have made his service a little tougher than my own.

   The Canadian Armed forces have been there for the world.  I've used this quote before but a perfect description of our brave men and women came from the Paul Gross movie Passchendaele:   

"We do it all the time cause we're told to.   We're told to cause we're good at it.  We're good at it cause we do it all the time."   In truth,  back in the day Canadian soldiers, sailors, air men were all pretty tough.   Tough because they came from Canada.   Cold, wild, cruel.  Unlimited resources that first needed to be tapped.  Tapping them was a thing.  The cold north Atlantic was full of bounty,  if you could survive harvesting it.  The Prairies could provide bread for the world,  if you could survive the winters that last half the calendar year.  Nothing came easy for the people of this wonderful country.  

  Fortunately indigenous people helped the early settlers survive.  Taught them important skills they needed.  Unfortunately we didn't do too good a job of showing our appreciation to the First nations people.  That is another story for another time.  It deserves a deep dive that I am not really capable of producing.  It is not my story to tell, even though it is my burden to carry.

   We got tough in our home and native land cause we didn't have a choice.  But that toughness didn't mean we weren't a form of cooperative.  We looked after each other.   We still do although it hasn't seemed as necessary to us in recent years.  We hire cops, and fire fighters, and emts and civil servants and municipal employees to provide services which we seem to think let's us off the hook to help those who need it.  

   We don't have the volunteers,  the concerned citizens, the good samaritans  in the proportional numbers that we used to require to make our society work.  And there are several reasons for that.  Population is one:  More people more problems.  Fear is another.  We are more nervous about helping a stranger.  Heck: We are more nervous about helping our neighbours.  We are certainly more nervous about speaking directly with those who may offend, infringe, or upset our daily lives.  

    Well,  I think we had some grand scale lessons in the past few months.  Now I am likely a minority in this corner of my home and native land,  but I have been very inspired by our Prime Minister and his speech in Davros Switzerland earlier this month.  In front of the whole world:  Investors, businessmen, political leaders he announced that Canada was not going to be bullied by our next door neighbours administration.  He is helping us move on from the association with the United States that their current administration sees as some sort of burden.  

    And Canadians listening to the leader of our neighbours telling the world that Canada has been feeding off them,  that we have done nothing in support of the United States, while the friends and families of just under a couple hundred Canadian Military  men and women who lost their lives defending America watched in disbelief.   

    Now I am of Scottish heritage which usually indicates I am not necessarily a glass is half full kind of guy.  I do have to say, however these things have actually brought out the national pride in Canadians from Coast to Coast to Coast.  The threats to Greenland also brought out our loyalty, which in spite of a centuries old friendship with our southern neighbours remains with the NATO alliances to which we are committed.  A deal, after all is a deal to honourable people.  

    I know what you're thinking.  I happened to live in the corner of my home and native land where unhappiness is brewing.  Where there is talk of being our own sovereign nation....or maybe being that 51st. state.   Well you're not wrong.  There is a percentage of people in Alberta who want to be Albertan.  And although the numbers read something like 30% and the actual serious separatists numbers are more like 15%, that is still a considerable amount of people who are not content.   Well that discontent has to be addressed.  And I am hopeful that it will.  Quebec at one time was a 51-49 balance for being Canadian.  They are now about  70%-30%  Canadian too.  

   Granted, you never hear about states in the USA that are looking for independence.  It should be worth noting that when America was about the same age as this nation,  they had an all out  civil war that killed some 750,000 people.  National unrest isn't uncommon.  It may be a necessary part of a nation's maturing.  

     In spite of our problems here in my corner of our home and native land,  I have been inspired, filled with pride, and somewhat relieved by my countries reaction to what we are witnessing so close to our front door.  But the inspiration part in which I revel didn't just come from the words and actions of my Canadian brethren.   MINNESOTA AND MINNEAPOLIS PEOPLE.......YOU ROCK!  You have shown where the actual power of America grows.   You are a movement.  You warn, You impede, You protect, You feed and provide assistance to those whom ICE agents have targeted.  People who are your neighbours. Your sitters.  Your delivery people.  Your cab drivers.  Your dish washers.  People who are doing jobs that no one else seemed to want.  Some of them legally.  Some of them not.  Some of them American who happened to be not what ICE agents seem to feel an American should look like.  

    But the people of Minnesota ( and many many people in other states) are showing the world what REAL American people are.  And it hasn't come easy.  In spite of the weather.   In spite of the gas, and the pepper spray, and the tactical unit moves,  and the murders, they are standing up for what is right against the most un-American actions any of us have ever witnessed.  

   And what could be more inspiring than that?