Before we get to the main dish of this evening, I think it’s appropriate that we treat ourselves to an historical appetizer so that we may better enjoy the subtle flavours and discrepancies of the following courses.
Canada as been, since 1760, although it was not called that at the time, under British Rule. Even though we brought back our constitution from England in 1982 after the Canadian Act was passed which made England give up all remaining constitutional and legislative authority over Canada, we are technically still under their rule: we are part of the Commonwealth, we have the Queen of England on our money and we sill have her representative at the head of the country, the Governor General. Mind you that title is in large part honorific, yet it as seen resurgence in its validity recently, when all hell broke loose at the end of this year in our parliament.
Now on to the main course, the article: U of A tones down God reference. The article, talks about how the University of Alberta, after a student group, the U of A Atheists and Agnostics, campaigned for a revision to the old charge, changed it from encouraging grads to use their degrees: “for the glory of God and the honour of your country” to “for the uplifting of the whole people; to inspire the human spirit; for all who believe, to serve your God; and to pursue more steadfastly whatsoever things are true.” This made me realise that these little changes, variations in sentences, can be the catalyst to major changes, through the growth, the adaptability that academic institutions have shown, it can hopefully inspire other institutions and bodies, like our government.
To know that our Governor General, someone as influential and as present as she is on the public scene, now a days, might be uttering those words, make me think that we are not too far from the day where we will see everyone as equals, will allow race, sex, language, religion AND the lack thereof, to be seen as a normal thing, to be understood as mundane and unworthy of a headline anymore, for it to become transparent in the eyes of our nations and allow them to focus on reality and the very real problems that it brings.
As desert arrives, let me conclude and say that, it is uplifting to see in the media swamp of war thorn countries, job loss and economic down times, a small oasis for the evolution of the human mind and more so over, for tolerance, nay acceptance of all our differences
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1 comment:
Hm. I seem to recall hearing about the U of A change - maybe from you. At any rate it's nice to read. It's a slow change, but I believe that things are generally progressing towards greater equality, at least in this country and our southern neighbor.
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