Originally Posted by: earthman buckWell, this is the pet peeves thread, so I suppose telling you why would fit in nicely.

It all revolves around the national anthem for me. Every morning at school, they make us stand for the national anthem. I realize it's probably the same way in every school in every country, and it's really not a lot to ask, but it still pisses me off. "True North strong and free," eh? Yeah, it's a free country. Totally. Now STAND UP!!!

This is especially enraging at Remembrance Day services. Yes, a bunch of people died so I can live my life Nazi-free. I get it. And I appreciate it, really I do. I just find a large amount of hypocrisy in the statement "In honour of those who died to make this free country the free country it is today, stand up and be quiet for a set amount of time, or else."

And who said I want to honour this country anyway? I don't understand patriotism very much. A country's a country. I was born here. That's my only real tie with this chunk of land I live on. Why should I be expected to love this country?

I mean, it's not like I hate living here. Living here is all I've ever known, and there are definitely worse places to live, from what I hear. I just think all countries have their flaws, Canada among them. Why make it out to be so great?

Standing up takes no effort for me. It's not like I'm 500 pounds, which would be a better reason for my complaining. I'd just much rather not do it. I always ask authority figures why we must stand at silence during these services and during the national anthem. They usually respond with "It's the least you can do." Wrong. In any given instance, the least I can do is nothing. I'd rather honour the spirit of freedom by doing nothing. Doing what I'm forced to do makes me dislike my country.

Anyhow, that's why.