As we approach Canada Day, July 1st, shouldn't Canadians, being the most apologetic nation in history, lower the flag? Isn't keeping it at half-mast (where it's been in some public places for over a year) a flagrantly proud and celebratory act for a country that wallows in supposed past sinfulness? That bright red Maple Leaf is flying too high -- shouldn't it be at quarter-mast?
A National Day is a good time for citizens called privileged to gather in corrective camps for performative self-criticism. (Maoist China had nothing on 21st century Canada, when it comes to competitive apologizing.) If you're European/colonialist/privileged you can't be in public life without apology-training because of the things your ancestors did -- like settling, farming, birthing new natives, working, nation-building, crafting a democracy under rule of law and equal rights ...
Apology-training is mandatory vaccination against patriotism -- and even more compelled than pronouns.
Here is one person's experience in the apology game:
My Apologies
I want to say I'm sorry for your loss. I heard you'd lost inclusion and respect, and possibly my ancestors were responsible. I'm sure my ancestors would be very sorry had they known more about inclusion back in the day when they were alive and people didn't fret enough about exclusion and such.
I'm sorry you feel dis-entitled and disrespected -- if you do -- my apologies if I've got that wrong and you're actually perfectly fine. Although it must be a burden if you are being unfairly excluded from victim-hood. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to be insensitive. My mistake: sorry.
I apologize if my race has had anything to do with it. My race is something I inherited unconsciously, but I know that's no excuse. I apologize for my ancestors having the genes they did, I'm sure if they'd realized all the trouble their genes would cause they wouldn't so thoughtlessly have passed them on. Some of them even had the bad taste to get their names on monuments, not knowing how offensive monuments would become (or even that their names would be on them), but again, that's no excuse. I'm sure they're posthumously regretful and that they’re perfectly okay with having their statues torn down. Sorry about historic names and places. Sorry about history, it should never happen.
But don't worry, the politicians will apologize for it, they're in training for the Apology Olympics. I'm only a recreational apologist myself. But confusingly, an "apologia" originally meant a speech in defense of something, explaining and vindicating when no offence had been intended. But sorry: I know intent has nothing to do with it and that making amends means you must pretend that offence was intended, even if it wasn't ...
But sorry, I'm losing the thread, I apologize for not sticking to the point which is my guilt and your victim-hood. Sorry for being obtuse, for it's clear that the insulted have a right to feel insulted and no one can take that away from them, for that would be to pile guilt upon guilt and even all the hand-washing of Lady Macbeth would fail to wash the stain away.
I'm sorry that that lady was so entitled by the way, she being titled. And not only that but Anglo-Saxon, so her descendants would be settlers of a particularly accomplished, educated colonial type, which is elitist. No wonder she couldn't stop washing her hands.
But sorry -- let's get back to you. You have every right to feel aggrieved about ... your grievances. I hope you'll forgive me. I'll follow the political leaders in learning what you're aggrieved about – or would that be cultural appropriation? Sorry: by “learning” I didn't mean I'd become in any way elitist-ly "learned". (Mea culpa.)
I don't know why, since we have a national “day” for everything else, Canada doesn't have an Annual Official Apology Day. We have a day for every disease, we have Oceans Day, Bee Day, Orange Shirt Day, Seniors, Child, Multicultural Day, and dozens more. If we had an Apology Day everyone could celebrate it by surging into the streets and blocking traffic (so the traffic knows we mean it) and waving signs saying I'M SORRY.
But wait -- I am begin to feel something new: I believe it's the onset of apology-fatigue. I even foresee the day when I will retire from this tearful wallow. Sooner rather than later, I think. In fact: why not now?! I feel that my sorrow-stamina has suddenly run down. I'm afraid I may not make it to the next national apolog-orgy after all.
Please accept my regrets.
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"Never retract, never explain, never apologize; get things done
and let them howl" -- Nellie McClung
Sorry Forests, for logging you
Sorry Ocean, for filling you with plastic
Sorry Soil, for covering you with concrete
Sorry Wildlife, for stealing your habitats
Sorry Birds, for poisoning you with pesticides
Sorry Fish, for genocidal fishing
Sorry Whales, for stealing your fish
Sorry Factory-farmed and Lab Animals, for false imprisonment and cruelty
Sorry Fur-bearers, for not outlawing leg-hold traps
Sorry Harp seals, for clubbing your babies to death
Sorry Human Children, for reducing your experiences of nature, beauty, and quiet outdoor places
