Finding National Pride When You Least Expect It

For many Canadians, this is the time to be Canadian.

The Olympics have finally arrived in Vancouver, and while a native of the city, I am not there. Instead, like millions of others, I will be one of those glued to a TV screen, with friends or in bars where patrons proudly raise their glasses to cheer our Canadians on in some of the sports that define us nationally.

While this is the time to naturally want to express a sense of national pride and solidarity, national pride was not something I sought after this past weekend when the games first opened their doors. Instead I was seeking refuge from the routine of urban life and fled as far away from the barren, brown winter prairie to the sublime reaches of the great Canadian Rocky Mountains. In turning my wheels west, I was not thinking about Vancouver, but I was simply thinking about getting away from the hustle and bustle of life. Getting out into nature and simply being able to hear myself breath.

However, rather than getting away from all the Olympic hype, I was bombarded by it. Honestly, what was I thinking while heading to Banff - the previous Canadian home of the winter Olympics. Almost every person, from another country or not, on the busy Banff main street were decked out in some variations of Olympic fashion.

Then there were the bars - flooded with proud Canadians cheering on their (very local) homegrown heros. There was no escaping it - I am Canadian, and it was time to cheer my fellow athletes on.

It's not that I didn't want to get into the Olympic spirit. I was simply seeking a quiet weekend away from any thought of anything. Yet strangely, I found myself engulfed not only by Olympic spirit, but pure Canadian pride. A sense of national solidarity that I usually only get a taste of during a Federal election, or a moment of national tragedy.

This sense of pride, this strong sense of nationality really had nothing to do with the Olympics. It had everything to do with the overwhelming sense of awe that one experiences when faced with the majesty of the rocky mountains, with the enormity of their hovering grace. I usually feel something in the face of their enormous rock faces, but this time that something was different.

This time, that something was the feeling that not only was I in a very special place in the world - but that this place was in Canada. Actually, this place is Canada. The sense of nationality surrounding nature was surmounted when I imagined where all the people who surrounded me were from. Walking the edge of one of the Rockie's most famous tourist destinations, we were passed by families from several different cultural backgrounds - British, Indian, German - the list could go on I'm sure. They were all likely here for the fantastic skiing promised by the Louise's famous mountain, but at the same time they were here to ski in the Rockies. To ski these majestic slopes, and to soak up the feeling of awe that so many who came before them have experienced.

I'm not going as far to say that the Rockies are something every person in the world wants to see. The level of their attraction is no where near to that of the Pyramids or even the Eiffel Tower, yet at the same time one of the reasons that makes these mountains such a popular destination is that they are not made man. Instead, they represent nature, in her most raw, ruthless and naked form. In the wake of natural disasters such as Haiti, they humble us before the eternal power of nature - a power that man only seeks to, yet is unable to completely dominate.

As the 2010 Vancouver Olympics pick up momentum, I am ready to put on my official Canadian hat, scarf and gloves and join the rest of the country in cheering for our athletes. This sense of pride will continue to grow as the excitement for the games does, but it will inevitably fade into nostalgia as the years go by.

Unlike the sense of pride evoked by the spirit of the Olympic games, the pride I feel in being a citizen of a country where national parks are erected to protect some of nature's most sacred monuments will not fade. Like nature herself, the pride and awe I feel in the face of the Rockies is eternal, so today and everyday from hear on after I can truly say that I am proud to be Canadian.