Sitting in the Passport office, waiting to renew/reapply for my child's passport I find myself half chuckling at a comment I made earlier, "Gotta renew the passport for when we need to escape Canada".
But then, where to? Who would take us? Why would we leave?
The past many years have pinpointed a significant realization for myself, and perhaps for many others, our loyalties aren't 100% tied to a "country", identity, nor idea - they are tied to a land. Regardless of the current happenings in any country, so many of us are tied to the land. The leaving is the final straw, the part that causes immense greif and perhaps for some, remorse.
"What if we stayed? Could we have done more? Could we have saved our homeland?"
That word, homeland.
Home LAND.
It isn't home country. It's homeland.
We are tied to the land.
So, when nefarious actors show up, try to dessimate a country, break apart ties to nationalism and operate in some form of government overlord structure, they fail to identify the thing that will unify and hold the citizenry closest. The land.
Perhaps this is why our ranchers, farmers, and all others that work so closely with the flora and fauna are often the last to be phased, the group that we look to for calm, resolve and a steadfast focus on what to do next. Perhaps this is why we take solace in returning to nature. Because its always been about the land.
It's likely also why we are so moved when we watch land be destroyed, other people's home land burning up in flames, washed away in floods and decimated by twisters. Our primitive hearts understand what truly needs protecting, not the homes, the land.
I started this piece as a way to spill out my thoughts on tariffs and the abismal operations of our Canadian government - the Governor General not taking the reins of leadership and calling back Parliament to deal with the tariff war specifically - and yet here I am, rambling on about the importance of our connections to the land.
How the land is what we fight for when it all boils down, and I'm trusting that you are nodding your head in agreement as you read this.
I'm an Albertan, gifted to live in one of the most magical parts of Canada with full awareness that all parts of this land mass are magical. There's a power in the land that exceeds that of so many other parts of the world. And the rest of the world knows this.
We have our Rocky Mountains, prairies, Boreal Forest, badlands, gigantic big open skies and a majesty that runs across the whole space from border to border and all around. Alberta is home. Not the government, not the taxation situation, not the political dogma. Alberta, the land, the chunk of space rich with indigenous history, pioneer pride and people as tough as the rockies and yet as easy going as the wheat feilds blowing in the wind. We ride the waves of the seasons, settle into our roots and proudly call this place home. Our home. Our land.
I'm certian nearly every person across this country can identify with the love of the land for the place they have put their roots down and yet recently we have experienced an uprooting. A chasmic shift leaving so many to think "societal structure" rather than "home land". Remember our grandparents, the ones who escaped Europe during the World Wars? Remember the books and history teaching us about the first rounds of immigration to North America by the French and the English predominantly? They referred to home as their "home land" and sometimes the "old country". They understood. It's about the land.
It's high time we returned to this understanding as well.
When we are connected, deeply connected to our home land, we are unstoppable. We cannot fail because we move forward in devotion to her. We stand firm because our roots run so deep and we can draw energy, resiliency and strength from the wisdom that runs into the soils of our land. We stand firm, connect with our fellow stewards and unite together to support each other.
If we can return to the love of our land, the respect for what she provides and the deep understanding that strong communities are more powerful than a facade of a country, then we can weather any storm. We all have skills, things we can offer and ways we can connect to support each other, to build our own economies and to drive survival and innovation into new and exciting directions.
The power hasn't yet turned off, we still have ways to connect, so let's work together now, build the strength of the community we can rely on and recognize that WE are the leaders in our lives, not someone sitting on a fictitious throne hiding from their duties.
Build your communities, get real in the discussions and return to the land. Return to the heart of the place that holds you up, nurtures you and will one day envelope you in comforting deep rest. Much like a strong community can do right now.
Start small, think local, and have faith.
This too shall pass.
With Courage,
Lisa
