The threat to national unity is serious. If this keeps up, the country could easily split apart, with communications severed and people from one region refusing to speak to relatives and former friends in another.
No, no, not Quebec separatism — Vancouver Island’s gloating season.
Judging by news photos and Facebook postings, the Rest of Canada celebrated the first official day of spring with blizzard-obscured highways and houses buried in snowdrifts, while in Victoria, an appealing photo of two little girls lying among a patch of daffodils brightened the front page of the Times Colonist.
It’s been a rough winter for much of the country. Well-intended Islanders have tried to relieve the misery of their shivering compatriots by posting photos of blossoming trees, patches of snowdrops and daffodils, always those daffodils.
People in Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Toronto nod knowingly when they read Henry Van Dyke’s observation about the season: “The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.”
Meanwhile, on the West Coast, we have been noticing signs of spring since December, and we’re not shy about saying so.
Prairie people look eagerly for the first robin to return as winter wanes; we’re eager to share with them the great news that we see robins year round.
The effort has not always been appreciated. While we are simply trying to offer rays of hope, the promise that somewhere the sun is shining and grass is green, others see smugness and gloating. And this winter, people got a little tired of it. The result was this message circulating through the digital universe:
“To B.C. from the Rest of Canada — SHUT UP!”
Of course, one of the main appeals of Facebook is the envy factor. An expensive meal in a tony restaurant is greatly enhanced if you can snap a photo with your smartphone and let everyone else in the world know that you are dining in style and they are not. Same goes with photos on tropical beaches.
Superiority complexes are also involved. Technology allows lean hikers to send selfies from mountaintops inaccessible to those who find two flights of stairs a fitness challenge.
Facebook needs to add another clickable button. In addition to “Like,” “Comment” and “Share,” it should have “Who Gives a Rat’s Patootie?”
That would provide an emotional release for the Rest of Canada when they are inundated with photos bragging about the Island’s weather.
Who are we to brag anyway? Nature’s a lavish spender here, and we are the recipients of her generosity. We can’t take credit for creating the geography, ocean currents and prevailing winds that help make this one of the best places in the world to live.
We are, however, responsible for keeping it that way, and we haven’t always fulfilled that responsibility. Forests have been stripped of their trees, mountains have been mined for minerals and oceans have been raided for their fish stocks, as well as being used as a place to dump our trash and effluent.
That isn’t a blanket condemnation of the forestry, mining and fishing industries — we need them — but the abuses remind us of how important it is to use resources responsibly and on a sustainable basis.
When Europeans began settling here, they thought they were looking at limitless supplies of fish and timber. They brought flora and fauna with them, sometimes unwittingly, that flourished and altered the environment, not usually in positive ways.
We know better now. We’re a little more careful, not so quick to clearcut a forest or rip a mountain apart with strip-mining. Those things still happen, but not so easily.
We live in a paradise, but it’s a more fragile paradise than it may appear. We need to be good stewards of this paradise, so we can continue to enjoy it and share it with the rest of the country and the world.
The photos we post should show that we are humbly grateful for the privilege of living here.
