A Fresh Look

The New Yorker’s View of the World


Want to hear about the wildest leap of self-delusion?

Until about two weeks ago, I believed that America’s problems were the world’s problems; that whatever happened to America--either good or bad—resonated and reverberated throughout the world; that either the world’s population was happy or sad dependent on what was happening here.

What a solipsistic view coming especially from one who should have known better. The truth was that aside from the policy makers and others directly affected, few knew or even cared whether we were happy or sad or whether it even mattered on the global scale of things.

For any American, no matter how sophisticated they may think they are, it is always a shock to learn that the world does not live or breathe America; that for the most part, our antics are our own unless they make headlines for one reason or another.

Knowing that, I should have been less moved to learn that over my stay in British Columbia that life goes on whether we’re viewed as an active participant or not. It’s not that the Canadians I met were partisan or not., it’s just that they have their own particular concerns and those are near and ours are far away.

Maybe such views are due to the growing complexity of the world without the two great players enmeshed in threat and counter-threat or maybe it’s simple because Canadians have their own issues that simply push us off the front burner. I don’t know but tend to chalk it up to a coming of age in the north=land in a way that is more pronounced now than I had seen it in past visits.

As one who is a citizen of the U.S. but also the grand-child of Canadian pioneers who date back to Hudson Bay, I have always found it wise and instructive to try to keep a finger on the pulse of perceptions among our northern allies for their balanced and objective perspective. Nontheless, with typical American hubris, we have also taken some of our best allies advice and good will for granted. Regrettably, being taken for granted tends to leave a lasting impression and tends to color our relationship in subtle ways..

In the past, Canadians had kept alive the perception that events in Canada to a great degree are shaped by the ebb and flow of what happens to its neighbor to the south. And this is not to suggest that our interdependence has changed, it’s just that the Canadians seem presently preoccupied or distracted by their own government and its vagaries.

Beyond that, it just seems that life in BC is one of the best kept secrets on the continent. To put that notion to the test, a recent survey of Canadians published in the Canadian papers confirmed that Canadians overall tend to be a pretty happy people. And that the people in BC are perhaps happiest of all when measured against other Canadians..

For anyone new to this area, the combination of tolerant climate and beauteous vistas would only reinforce such findings. On a recent foray into remote Pendar Island, where vacationing business people from Toronto and Vancouver live side by side with local writers, artisans and craftspeople in secluded splendor, it is hard not to be lulled into forgetting what’s going on around the world when distracted by the wake of the ferry from Victoria or the engines warming up for the 8:00 seaplane to Vancouver or the pull of the salmon on your 80 lb test lines. It seems hard to think of the problems that beset the world when you have a good merlot in your hand and your toasting to another beautiful sunset. And perhaps that’s the reason that our friends to the north test so well on the happiness scale. And in that there may be a lesson for the rest of us; that being a Superpower is not all it’s cracked up to be. And that we’d sleep a lot better at night, if we decided to remove ourselves as policeman for the world. It may be hopelessly naïve to think of such things, but at the very least we should try to stand back and gain some objectivity by taking in the thinking of our friends around the globe. It may just put things into a new perspective.


Les Aaron