Political Memes

I’m an American living in Germany. When Russia first attacked and Ukrainians described Russians as their “brothers,” I figured it didn’t really translate (not literally, but culturally. Europeans have a much longer memory and sense of national culture than Americans do).

I think I get it now. Canadians are my brothers. I’m from New England and when I was still there, got really involved with a folk dance that’s common along both sides of the eastern part of the Canada-US border. I have more in common with someone from Quebec (my first language was French because my mother’s side was part of the Acadian diaspora, just very far north) than I do with someone from Arizona. It doesn’t feel right that we treat them as anything other than a sibling.

My siblings are both very different from and very similar to me, I’m not saying that Canada is the same as us or should be annexed. We should support them doing their own thing as much as possible. One of my siblings has two master’s degrees and became a born again Christian, the other is an effortlessly cool restaurant manager. I’m neither cool nor Christian and I’m struggling with a master’s program, but I dance better than either of them. We’re different, but we perceive the world from the same place (even living as far apart as we do)