Health Care and Hockey are Hardly Foundations Upon Which a Great Nation is Built

I paraphrase Rex Murphy in the title which came in a speech he gave a few years ago that focussed on how bereft we are of leadership.

Yesterday Canada won another Junior Hockey World Championship - whoop dee doo.

So once again our post-adolescent boys managed to triumph over the acne-filled-faces of the other five hockey playing countries in the global collection of 200 odd (make that mostly odd) nations.

Did this huge hockey story supplant the political crisis in Pakistan or violence in Kenya?

I am sick and tired of getting hockey shoved down my throat - yeah, our politicians are all corrupt and bereft of ideas, but it's okay - we have hockey. Yeah, we only have a handful of companies that have invented and commercialized anything, but we invented hockey.

I listen to four radio stations: AM - 590, 640 and 1010 and CBC 99.1FM
Yesterday while travelling to visit my sigother at noon, two of these had LEAF specials on for two hours over lunch. AM 640 has Leaf hockey talk on for THREE HOURS every day and 590 for two. Hockey is our opiate. Our distraction from real things.

This Leaf addiction is a symbol of what Canada has become - toothless, threatening opponents with sticks, and in last place in our division.

Give it up!! Read. Listen to Music. Write a story. Meet with friends and chat. Travel to other places. Experience life. Play bloody hockey. Create something. Do anything but end this ridiculous affection for the Toronto Make Believes.