{"id":1910,"date":"2011-05-09T11:12:24","date_gmt":"2011-05-09T15:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=1910"},"modified":"2011-05-09T11:12:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-09T15:12:24","slug":"best-re-posts-of-2009-%e2%80%93-certainly-our-1-is-on-hockey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=1910","title":{"rendered":"Best re-posts of 2009 \u2013 Certainly, our #1 is on Hockey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hockey is the glue that binds our Nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=460<\/a><\/p>\n

In order to be a dynamic, sustainable national entity, a country\u2019s people must\u00a0have shared values, perspectives, and experiences. A country\u2019s peoples must\u00a0know and understand certain common things \u2013 whether they be moments in time, or iconic images that stir a common passion. In Canada our sense of national identity has become blurred through the past two to three decades largely because we are loosing our national common identifiers. And we are losing our sense of being because we no longer collectively share special moments or recognize and appreciate meaningful symbols.<\/p>\n

So, one needs to ask \u201cWhat do we have in Canada to unite us? What will provide that sense of nationalism that can pull us together and have us share moments in time \u2013 that can\u00a0become our peoples\u2019 common memories and source of pride?\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u00a0offer that our national game of hockey is the glue that binds our nation.<\/p>\n

Hockey is a shared experience that transcends\u00a0pucks and ice surfaces.\u00a0 Hockey envelops everything from pre-dawn breakfasts and cold car rides to the smell of locker rooms and those smiles and arena exchanges with your children. There are tens of thousands of Canadian children who love the game and dream of being the next Gretzky or Crosby. There is a legend of parents who come together to converse and share moments in the rinks and the parking lots. And there is Saturday night. Imagine how many households have the HNIC ritual of cheering\u00a0the opening face-off and needing\u00a0to hear Don Cherry bark through another Coach\u2019s Corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hockey is the reference point for Canada. Quite simply, it is what defines us.<\/p>\n

Hockey defines us in a way that other things do not \u2013 or can no longer. For example, Canada is beyond being defined by its two founding Nations.\u00a0 This has given way to multiculturalism and, today, we have our three most populous urban centres as, literally, cultural mosaics. What of bilingualism? A native heritage? Our historic memberships in the commonwealth or NATO? None of these strike a resounding chord with our current society.<\/p>\n

Canadians no longer rally around historic icons like our founding father Sir John A, the Mounties, the mighty moose or maple syrup? Many Canadians have never seen a canoe or an inukshuk \u2013 so these symbols simply cannot provide a common reference point.\u00a0 Perhaps there is a case for the maple leaf icon and our ensign \u2013 but Canadians differ greatly on what our red-and-white flag represents and the maple leaf is less a shared symbol of national passion than it is a default icon representing the notion of our country.<\/p>\n

So, the\u00a0contention is hockey is the glue that binds\u2026. and in the months ahead the\u00a0By George Journal\u00a0<\/em>will celebrate hockey and explore the idea of this glorious game is \u201cthe defining element\u201d of Canada –\u00a0our peoples\u2019\u00a0source of \u201cbeing Canadian.\u201d<\/p>\n

(ed. \u2013 This is a repost, picked as one of our favourite three\u00a0posts of 2009, taken from the\u00a0earlier posts on the <\/em>By George Journal. We have tagged \u201c hockey\u201d and you can read much more on this glorious sport in <\/em>By George. )\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hockey is the glue that binds our Nation https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/?p=460 In order to be a dynamic, sustainable national entity, a country\u2019s people must\u00a0have shared values, perspectives, and experiences. A country\u2019s peoples must\u00a0know and understand certain common things \u2013 whether they be moments in time, or iconic images that stir a common passion. In Canada our sense…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35,14,53],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1910"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1912,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1910\/revisions\/1912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bygeorgejournal.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}