Oh Canada, it’s hard for me to celebrate your Birthday.

I’m sorry Canada but this year I am finding it very difficult to celebrate your Birthday.

You likely know the reasons why, but I feel betrayed; what did we all do to deserve this. One would think that you get better with age.

I’ve known you for all my life, you’ve made mistakes in the past, but I’ve never seen this in you before. The look on your face, the evil in your eyes, the aggressiveness, the contempt, the lack of respect and dignity. However, its the anger, like a seething Pit Bull ready to attack at even a flinch of a feather. Its like I could feel your teeth plunging to the core of my heart, twisting and turning with the vengeance seemingly detached from any resemblance of me as a living being. How can I, or anyone trust you any longer? I don’t know where to start and its difficult to find the energy to do so.

How can I celebrate when there are mutual friends of ours in prison being held for unjust reasons. This looks like Martial Law! Even those who you have released are still in pain, they are traumatized, they are hurt, yet the worst part of all this is that they no longer believe in you. I see the anger in them towards you, its quite frightening. Will you even acknowledge what you have done has caused deep hurt? Our friends truly believe that they did nothing wrong. Are you choosing to sweep this under the rug and discount the emotion of your friends?

Oh Canada, what happened to the True Patriot Love? Today, I ask myself; how can I continue to stand on guard for thee?

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About J Peachy

I am a contemporary outsider artist that believes in the healing properties of the natural environment. I paint landscapes in abstract as an expression of my connection with nature and its ability to provide me peaceful inspiration. As organisms on this earth I believe we are interconnected with nature and highly interdependent. But as the psycho-social environment we live in today gets ever increasingly complex its effects on us are becoming more pervasive, corroding and sophisticated. However the energy, peace and serenity of our natural surroundings can provide a way of grounding our senses and healing our minds. I try to capture the interrelationship between my mind and nature as I see and feel it; it’s an expression of my soul captured on a physical medium and in a point in time. Going through the process in itself contributes to balance. Driven by my own lived experience, I am a self proclaimed arts-based advocate for mental health and strive to demystify and eliminate stigma around these issues. My initiatives in this regard include being the Vancouver Caucus leader for the Artist Alliance for Mental Health, a collective member (2010) of the artist-run Gallery Gachet in Vancouver and the Producer and Host of Sound Therapy Radio a peer oriented mental wellness show on CJSF 90.1 FM. I have a true belief in human potential and in the statement; ‘art is a means for survival’.
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One Response to Oh Canada, it’s hard for me to celebrate your Birthday.

  1. J Peachy says:

    From this point forward, CANADA DAY for me will NOT BE a HOLIDAY, but a day dedicated to ensuring that the Democracy which others are celebrating, will continue to exist and progress forward as it was originally designed to do.

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