Year after year, nothing makes me feel more patriotic than the Terry Fox Run day.
Thousands of volunteers assisting tens of thousands runners from coast to coast to coast and around the world swells my chest with national pride in my country. Pardon me if the occasion leads me to engage in a little jingoistic hyperbole but it is my blog, after all.
Words matter and as I ran today, I wondered if linguists have not erred in the definition of the word Canadian. To date a Canadian has been defined as a noun, i.e. a person from Canada, but I'm wondering if the term Canadian should not also be used as an adjective: defined as one who is strong, modest, courageous, generous, tenacious, loyal, caring, determined, enthusiastic, tough.
Looking through our history, this strikes me as an honest description and in particular describes our boy Terry. No on epitomized those words more than the young man whose momentous spirit inspires millions 31 years after his passing.
Thus, going forward, I will no longer refer to Terry Fox as the Greatest Canadian. He will heretofore be known simply as the most Canadian. One day, I hope to become more Canadian.
Lovely tribute, Robert... the run and the words.
Posted by: Erin Wilson | September 18, 2011 at 03:12 PM