A view from a former friend and ally.
(I did not write this; it is the work of a good friend who always seems to encapsulate thoughts, perfectly.)
There is a Public Relations lesson I learned in my old job and took into my personal life.
A reputation can be destroyed in one single incident. It will take at least two years of very hard work to restore it or it can take 10 years or it will never be restored.
When you have taken a reputation destroying arrow, public relations will swoop in and immediately make three demands.
First, you will apologize immediately and profusely. You will accept all accountability.
Second, you make an immediate and decisive decision to demonstrate accountability and a desire to change. And that will include reparations of some kind.
Third, you will spend whatever amount of time to demonstrate a change of path.
You have seen this happen time and again with idiot celebrities.
Example! Will Smith after his reprehensible behaviour at the Oscars.
He apologized quickly, a decisive decision was made to come out of the public eye for years ( while he works on himself), banned from the Academy. He will never be nominated again.
At the top of his career the pedestal was very quickly kicked out. Four years later he is still working on redemption. Or perhaps he’s not. Perhaps he’s given up.
One man, one slap, one destroyed reputation.
Now imagine if you will.
A friend, an ally, a comrade in arms, a neighbour, a brother suddenly, inexplicably, shockingly turning on you.
I can tell you as someone who has walked beside dementia both professionally and personally it is the most difficult thing to contend with. To watch someone you loved and who loved you with everything suddenly one day look at you with vacant eyes. Speak to you with venom. Deny they ever loved you and yes, sometimes physically assault you.
In those moments it is very difficult to remember them as who they were.
The most soul wrenching grief response families must work through later is the guilt about how they secretly felt through those moments.
The USA has become Will Smith to some. Angry, violent, so gifted by the fates but still discontent OR the demented beloved to others.
Outcome is all the same.
Whichever it is, the American reputation in in utter tatters and will not be repaired in my lifetime.
Going forward you will see worldwide protests, flag burning, anthem booing. Brace yourself.
The year of appeasement, ego stroking, golden trophies, carriage rides around Windsor Castle have come to an end.
Here in Canada, no one will admit this outloud but we are amused.
Because the world has now learned what Canada ( the ugly redheaded step-sister to the USA) has always known.
Canada knew it didn’t matter how ferociously we fought in wars beside them, how many Americans we hid and got out of Iran during the hostage taking crisis, how many nationals we took into our homes in Gander after 9-11. It didn’t matter Canadian utility companies were the first into New Orleans after Katrina or that Air Canada was the first airline to land with supplies and rescue equipment. Or the Canadian water bombers sent to California during wildfires.
We knew it never mattered.
This nation of ours would always be the butt of American jokes. Was always underestimated and always under appreciated.
As George Bush stood before cameras the day after 9-11 and thanked nations…..while Canadians were in the very process of feeding and housing Americans. Canada was the only nation he “ forgot”.
Who can you trust in dark days? Trust the friend who will hide you. If those Canadians had been caught hiding Americans in Iran they would have been hung from trees.
Go watch the movie Argo as they steal Canadian valour making Canadians bit players in their own history.
The world though, doesn’t know that.
They don’t know what we know.
They don’t know that the USA has a massive ego, a great sense of entitlement, and absolutely NO appreciation for the world they share as global citizens.
When they tell you they are the greatest nation in the world…..they mean it. They believe that. And what’s more, the world owes them. And they are here to collect.
I admit, I am amused.
It’s just been embarrassing. Watching other nations bow before Caligula, making great promises, kowtowing with outstretched hands of gold. Only to then watch a car plant of Koreans, there to help, to be dragged away in shackles. More tariffs slapped on, leaders humiliated in the Oval Office and now….after it all….a promise of annilation either “ the easy way or the hard way”.
Meanwhile “Nasty” Canadians refused to bow the head despite threats of annexation, scolding from an American “Ambassador”, tariffs, or letters of complaints from American Governors, Canada knows you can’t ever give the USA enough.
Frank McKenna Canadian ambassador to the United States, told Americans post Katrina: “you are our friends and together we are family – you do not suffer alone.”
But they always thought they did. Because they placed no value on who sat beside them
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