Everything is falling into place for Canada Day. The weather should be good, the celebrations are all organized and for a relatively rare occasion July 1 creates a long weekend.
But, there won’t be any top level baseball at Butler Park, that’s too bad.
The Home of Champions has two top-tier baseball teams peopled with local talent - the senior Orioles and the Legion (junior) Jays, but both are out of town.
Don’t let the scorelines from last weekend put you off, the Orioles play good ball. Their 1-3 record in the most recent home stand could have been reversed if the team had any luck at all and the level of play is top notch.
The Jays are as competitive as ever, just returned from a big weekend in Alberta, and also provide quality baseball entertainment.
Both, however, are away for the weekend at tournaments in Kelowna and Spokane, so we will have to settle, happily, for attending one of the events designed to celebrate what is still one of the best places in the world to live - and singing along, for a change for many of us, with the national anthem.
Canada Day is, or should be, the most important holiday on the calendar.
Along with the other secular statutory breaks: New Year’s Day, B.C. (Heritage) Day, Labour Day and Remembrance Day; this holiday is designed to focus our attention on the reason Canadian citizenship should be so prized by those who hold it.
I enjoy the Christmas season, and everybody is happy to break away from winter at Easter, but neither of those periods has, or should have, much to do with being Canadian.
If we celebrated the cultural mythology of every distinct group in Canada, very little work would ever get done.
So, “Secular Days” it should be, if only because of their non-partisan, inclusive nature.
Friday generates celebrations linked to the best and most important things, present and historical, about most of our lives.
If you are happy you live here and not, say, North Korea or Afghanistan, take a moment or many and express that emotion.