Thank you American citizen (the person I am quoting)

This is me quoting a comment.

I am saying thank you in response.

Shannon Harder
An American, living in Canada during Covid-19...what ive learned about this wonderful country in a few short weeks

Im only 24 years old but ive seen alot... i remember alot from the past 20 years. Hurricane Katrina...the catastrophic hurricane that destroyed the south. The 9/11 terrorist attack. I was in 1st grade and confused why huge building were collapsing in NYC. Hurricane Irene...i drove over the Mississippi River on a trip to see my brother in Nebraska....a playground was flooded up to the nets of the basketball hoops. I remember the H1N1 flu outbreak. I was about 15 years old when the outbreak happened. Obama was president at the time. There was numerous other events in the past 20 years, but id sit here all day writing about them.
Now, Covid-19, attacking the WORLD. Every country, thousands and thousands of people sick, thousands dead. It is sad.
My personal experience of all of this...
My last day of work was March 13th. Ive been home every day since, as we have all been instructed to do. Ive gone to the grocery store twice since then. Now let me tell you what Canada has shown me thru all of this...
The politcal side - Our leaders alongside Justin Trudeau, have been nothing but strong, helpful, and caring towards all of us. It did not take long for them to figure out a great financial support system for all of the families and businesses here. There was no fighting about it between leaders, only teamwork to give us only the best, to help us all thru this. Trudeau makes frequent announcements from outside of his home, to keep us all feeling safe, and like we will ACTUALLY get thru this.
Now on a personal level, especially from what I saw this morning at the grocery store has absolutely blown me away. The KINDNESS these canadians have is like none other ive ever seen. First, the technicalities that the grocery stores have put in place are incredibe, only allowing so many people into the store at a time - you wait in a properlyspaced line outside until allowed to enter, the floors are all marked for how far you can stand from each other while in the checkout line, Walmart even has all of the aisles marked with which direction to walk throughout the store. Workers wipe down the self-checkouts after EVERY person checks out. Regular checkout lanes have thick plastic guards between the workers and customers. Once you leave the store, a worker takes your cart and wipes it down. You have to wait in line as each customer does this on their wayout.
As i was shopping, a gentleman had to hop in front of me to grab something off the shelf, he wasnt even within 8ft of me, but he said 'sorry' with a smile on his face. As i was waiting in the checkout line, a mother behind me with her child seemed exhausted and fustrated, trying to expain to her children why they cant touch everything, but she was quick to give me a smile and ask how my family was holding up...

My point here, im overwhelmed with the kindness, genuineness, and CARE that all of the Canadians have for each other. Whats going on in this world is scary right now, its unsettling. Ive never seen in my lifetime something like this happen. Nor have i seen this amount of kindness. Ever.

Ive lived in Canada for 4 years and Ive always loved it, but Covid-19 has really shown me the true STRENGTH and kindness that this country is all about.

unquote.

Thank you

Hi Lesley,

How nice of her to make such compliments. I find both Canadians and Americans the loveliest of people, yes some Americans can be brash, New Yorkers for example are famed for it, but underneath they retain a warm heart.

I also know that Canadians hate being mistaken for Americans, rather like New Zealanders being asked what part of Australia they are from. There are noticeable differences in the accents though it is closer with Canadians and Americans.

The world needs to pull together and be as one. And now there is a green comet on the way, Comet Atlas. Comets in Anglo society have always been a portent of doom. But that is just legend... it's trail is half the size of the Sun, five times the size of Jupiter and will lighten up skies soon... hoping the virus has disappeared by then, but I doubt it....

Celia xx