Newsletter – January / February 2007 – Heartaches

Heartaches

Valentine’s Day is upon us: the season for human beings to celebrate our emotional nature. For jaded participants like me, this “Day of Love” has become a day of hollow ritual, a day of cards and chocolates and flowers; a day of tokens of love, not real love. What has happened to my real emotions? Have I forgotten how to feel?

When I first realized the shocking state of my emotional life, I felt disturbed. Aren’t emotions the part of our lives that give us flavour? Is life worth living if we don’t get all emotional about it? Have I become a Scrooge? … a Grinch? … some sort of robotic emotionless Star Trek Spock?

My only salvation was that fact that I was feeling bad about not feeling… in some perverse way, this made me feel good!

Then I realized something important: I’m a Canadian, not an Italian. Canadians aren’t supposed to feel emotions, are we? Emotions are a Latin thing, aren’t they? Or a French thing…Somehow, passion and Canadian don’t normally go together. So, no problem: I am not devoid of emotions. I’m simply a Canadian! What a relief that was! Then I began to wonder about the irony of being a French Canadian. Canadians are dull and emotionless, but the French are excitable and full of passion. Then I began to wonder about a certain Act of Parliament…