Since the year 2000, I’ve celebrated all but two Canada Days from outside of Canada – either in New York or in Israel. Funny thing is, I actually feel a stronger connection to Canadian patriotism when I’m outside of Canada than when I’m at home.
Today was a pretty quiet Canada Day here in Jerusalem. While I did hear fireworks at one point, Israelis love to blow stuff up when they celebrate, so it was probably just the opening of a new mall or something.
So in honour of the Confederation of my home and native land, here’s a rundown of fifteen of Canada’s and/or Canadians’ lesser-known, yet most fascinating contributions to the wider world:
- Standard Time: messing up my internal clock since last Wednesday
- Basketball: in which we shamefully have only one professional level “team”
- Garbage Bags: in which we shamefully pollute the planet, all while making it ever so convenient to get rid of undesirables (can you fit Canadian politicians in garbage bags?)
- Peanut Butter: yeah, that was us
- The telephone: which – much like international Canadian diplomacy – nobody uses anymore, anyways
- Blackberry: which – much like the telephone – nobody uses anymore, anyways
- Insulin
- Electric wheelchairs
- Wheelchair accessible buses
- Pacemakers
- Wonderbras: you’re welcome
- Butter Tarts: you’re welcome
- Caulking guns: you’re welcome
- Egg Cartons: can you imagine what life would be like without these?
- Apologizing for everything: (When I went to the CBC’s website for the 50 Greatest Canadian inventions, it apologized that the webpage could not be found)
Happy Birthday Canada! I miss ya!
Rabbi Jesse Paikin 