Canada from the point of view of an Immigrant
"You can take the boy out of the third world, but you cannot take the third world out of the boy." LOL
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Canada's Maple Leaf flag, I think about how being here have changed me.
It has been more than a decade ago when my foot landed on Canadian soil yet I still get a strong mix of feelings of gratitude, extreme humility, and pride each time it dawns in my head that I am now a part of this Great Nation that I have come to deeply and truly admire.
As an immigrant from a third world country, I am still in absolute awe of how everything seem to work well here in Canada. Being here is like being a part of an efficient and well-oiled machine where each part is as important as the whole- and the machinist (the government) really do care about the well being of the parts. I hate to compare but back when I was in my native land, I hear about Equal Rights and Equal opportunity all the time and I thought that I get it- but landing here made me realize that you don't know the meaning of equal rights and equal opportunity until you experience it- I had my first taste of that right here.
It is here where you can get free education and have access to world class healthcare without breaking the bank (all six of us in my family have experienced this first hand); the politicians here do not distribute instant noodles to the poor and needy with their faces printed on the packaging in hopes of a better election results; journalists don't get killed en masse; the media is not polluted with stories of killings, useless trivia, and corruption; the color of your skin is not a topic; women have their voice; and there is a refreshing religious tolerance.
Torontonians like to complain about the traffic on 401 and the DVP- as someone who lives literally right next to the DVP, I just laugh at them and carry on with my quiet meditation amidst the gentle hum of hundreds of engines passing by- the typical cacophony of third world traffic noticeably absent.
Ohm...