Last night I saw something that brought me to tears…
It was a normal Monday evening. I made dinner, we watched some CNN and then The Bachelor to take our minds off the chaos in America. Throughout the evening, I’d been texting with Marlie about the Refugee/Muslim/Immigrant Ban (or whatever you want to call it) and the current protests going on. We’d chatted about family members getting into public spats on Facebook over their political beliefs, support or disapproval for Trump and celebrity tweets and SAG Awards speeches we’d liked from the night before.
We talked about the terrorist attack on a mosque in Québec the night before and how that rattled us. This is Canada. This doesn’t happen in Canada. We’re better than this. We aren’t a hateful country and these news stories are things that we generally consider ourselves a step removed from because they almost never happen on our soil.
With all that has been going on in the world with refugee crises, wars, executive orders, protests, violence and so much negative rhetoric, I needed a break. I needed something to distract me (more than the useless drama of The Bachelor) or just help me feel like not all is really lost.
This leads me back to last night. After some tv, we headed out to a community rink. My husband was playing hockey and I went to watch. When we arrived at the rink he headed to the dressing room to gear up and I stood by the glass next to spectating parents to watch the ringette game that was just ending. Nothing seemed out of place. This was as typical of a Monday night in Canada as you can get. The girls from the ringette teams eventually filed out of their dressing rooms, wearing oversized sweats and hoodies, carrying their giant gear bags over their shoulders. They were laughing with each other, joking about the game, and hearing cheers from their parents who had come to watch. It was wonderful to see the camaraderie between these teenage girls.
While watching these girls interact, I saw something that sent a shock wave through my body. One of these beautiful, athletic, ringette-playing girls was wearing a scarf over her head. She was also dressed just the same as the other girls, in sweats and a hoodie with a bag of gear over her shoulder and a set of sticks in her hand.
I immediately texted Marlie to tell her what I’d just seen and her response was: “YES ????”.
Why did this bring me to tears? Why did this fill me so full of emotion that I cried at a rink on a Monday night in January? Well, it’s because what I saw filled me with joy that I can only describe as “that’s the power of sport”. Watching that girl on the ice, you’d never know her head was covered – everyone’s head is covered with a helmet! Watching her interact with her teammates, she wasn’t considered different – she was considered another member of the team. I felt like the power of sport united these girls. It shows us that we’re all equal. We’re all the same and we are all a part of something bigger than ourselves.
With everything going on in the world from wars to protests to the uncertainty of the new US Administration, this moment gave me a hope and faith in humanity that I feel I’ve lost a bit of over the last few weeks and months. I felt like that moment reminded me of what it means to be a Canadian.
I could have taken this article in so many different ways, but I really just wanted to focus on the fact that regardless of color, creed, race or religion, every one of those girls was an equal part of that ringette team and is an equal part of my Canada. And that makes me feel good in an often uncertain world.
