When Jose Marti discusses in the beginning of his article of the fact that those who have no faith in their country are seventh month old weaklings, this really stood out to me. For it made me stop to revalue what I think of my own country. When I think of our country I often only focused on the bad parts of history as I am sure many of us do. However, I always overlook the good. Just as Marti says I was ashamed of the Eurocentric side of Canada, I only valued that Indigenous side of Canada. Both were part of Canadas history, yes one was more good then the other, they both influence how I am today. Marti says this perfectly in my opinion. When he uses leaving your sick dying mother, to me this resonated by how Canada has so much left to do. I cannot simply turn by back on Canada for its past, abandoning that would be against who I am, for I am influenced by the bad just as much as the good. Marti shows us regardless of the past, we cannot be ashamed of our country past, for it got us here. We must stand by our country, to help better the nation and at the end come our stronger.
This also ties into when we talk about why the past is so important. Everyone has their ideas on what the past was and if it was better then the present. Some politicians refer to the past as “the good old days” and how they want to help bring society back to those days. Or on the opposite side of the spectrum, they use history as a way to learn from their mistakes, a way to do better than the past. Regardless of how they use the past in reference to, they do it because it provides guidance, a way to back up their claims. Everyone whether the realize of not uses the past as guidance, it influences how we operate.
Further Discussion
- Do you think we should only dwell on Canadas mistakes? or should we acknowledge them and do better from them?
- In what ways is Canadas fault similar to those of Latin America?
