The weird thing about cultural touchstones is that they don鈥檛 apply to everyone.
Take, for example, Tim Hortons. If you are Canadian, people automatically assume you鈥檙e a big fan of the big coffee chain, that you are drowning in rolled up rims and can鈥檛 function without double doubles. Even Americans immediately associate Canada with this particular coffee chain even though they鈥檙e not sure what it is. This has been genius branding on their part, and becoming part of the cultural fabric of a nation is a great way to sell coffee.
It also happens to be a great way to make someone feel as though they grew up in an alternate reality.
See, my first experience with Tim Hortons didn鈥檛 happen until well into adulthood. There was not one anywhere near my house. If we went to the city, why would we go to a coffee shop? And if we did want a donut or two, my sister was working at a competing chain while she worked through university so we would go there, not the old Timmy鈥檚 you know and possibly love.
The result is I don鈥檛 have the warm, fuzzy feeling people sometimes have about the place. It just didn鈥檛 exist to me until I was much older. So when people talk about how intrinsically Canadian the place is I feel as though I grew up in a place that must have been somewhere else, since it was a great big Tim Horton鈥檚 desert.
I鈥檝e been contemplating this as I watch preparation of outdoor ice surfaces.
This is, without question, a good thing, a fun way to put together an outdoor activity in a world where indoor activities are not quite an option yet. And yet I don鈥檛 skate.
I, briefly, knew how, as I was enrolled in figure skating because that鈥檚 what you do as a young kid. But I hated figure skating as a little kid, and I was desperate to get out of it and that lingering dislike keeps me from the rink. It might have been the fault of the coach, I don鈥檛 remember, it might have been my strong resistance to dressing in costume for the sake of a routine of some sort 鈥� there is a picture of me dressed up聽 as a bear and I look like a hostage. I convinced my mom to let me stop and I haven鈥檛 skated since.
But, in this country, we are supposed to love skating! Not me, not ever. Even in school, when skating was part of gym class, I didn鈥檛 hit the ice. It鈥檚 because I straight up didn鈥檛 own skates, didn鈥檛 want my parents to buy me skates, and didn鈥檛 want to be anywhere near ice. I even had to run laps while others skated, and was happy to do that instead. This is possibly going to be shocking to many, including several people in this office, especially since skating is so traditionally Canadian.
This makes it mildly ironic that a figure skater introduced me to my fiancee, but I digress.
Sometimes you don鈥檛 relate to cultural touchstones because they鈥檙e too remote. Sometimes it鈥檚 because it鈥檚 just something you wound up disliking independently. But it鈥檚 important to remember that even when there鈥檚 something that is supposed to be part of a national fabric, not everyone shares that thread.
