Support your Red and White

I woke up this morning and went about my usual routine; staying in bed as long as possible, having a coffee, checking in with Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail, double checking my agenda to make sure I’m on my way to the right place, getting another coffee ready for the road.  Nothing glamorous about my mornings.

Another great day was shaping up.  Sun was out, the breeze warm.  My car, unlocked and the door not quite closed.  Wait, what?  I don’t always lock my car, and this wasn’t the first time that someone exploited my trust.  CDs, papers, and business cards were scattered across the drivers seat.  My multi-tool money clip from the church was gone, a red Bic lighter was gone, some loose change was gone although some remained.  This is the second time I’ve had a red Bic go missing, yet I’ve never purchased a Bic lighter before; I find them on the ground, in parks, along the curb.  The first one was taken from my office.

It wasn’t really worth phoning the police over, but the last time this happened, the local authorities advised me that they need these reports for two reasons: 1^st, statistics, 2^nd, they know where to focus their time during shifts.  It’s not uncommon to see the police roll through out neighbourhood, but nothing substantial goes down.  Most times it’s for things such as what I faced this morning, or to recover stolen bicycles that found their final resting spot on a front lawn.

As I waited for the police to arrive, I noticed a 31” scrape along the rear right quarter panel.  That’s new.  I initially thought it looked like a scrape from a bicycle’s handlebar, but the police advised me that it was keyed.  They’d faced a series of similar concerns on the south side of town a couple weeks back, but there has been little to report over the past week or so.  I was now the first of five calls this morning.  Looks like things have moved to the north side.

This sort of thing doesn’t really bother me.  It’s annoying, it’s rude, it’s an invasion.  It’s stupid.  I hope that whatever they were looking for, they found.  I hope they find it useful. 

It’s in these situations that I am reminded, “It’s just stuff.”  And I rarely find myself concerned about stuff.  Stuff can always be replaced, but those things that matter, the people in life, the relationships, and the memories…those are the parts of life that matter.

Everyone has a story.  Mine goes on.  The people that took my stuff, well, only time will tell how theirs will end…

All of this got me thinking about being robbed.  I’ve been watching the Olympics every day since they began.  While I wasn’t able to watch the entire opening ceremony, what I did see was quite a spectacle.  Visually thrilling, and I think that a seat at home was the best place to watch such a production.

The men’s gymnastics seems to have so many pieces and events to make up the event, I really don’t know when it was, but there was an event that saw the China team file an appeal which resulted in Canada being bumped from the medal standings. 

Now I am the first to admit that I don’t know a ton about gymnastics, but if you saw the video recap to determine whether the hand stand by the Chinese was worthy of points, I am sure most people would say “Nope.  That wasn’t a handstand.”  The judges, however, changed their original scoring, elevating the Chinese team from fourth, to second, moving Canada from silver to bronze, and removing Ukraine out of the standings.

I felt robbed as a Canadian.

I’m not an athlete.  I don’t represent Canada on a public stage (except on my various missions trips).  But I do have a sense of pride in Canada.  I feel a genuine sense of joy when our athletes capture a medal.  To be the winners of silver, only to have it downgraded to bronze because of a disagreement just felt wrong.  Robbed.

Much like I felt this morning.  Disappointed in the actions of others, actions that cost me.

As a final word, I want to encourage my Canadian readers to support your Red and White – the colours of Canada.  Be proud of our country, stand up for it, defend it.  Support your Red and White.  Fly your flag with the pride that so many other countries show. (Watch for another blog coming soon on the Red, White, and Blue).