By Mike Heenan
Literary Editor
True North Perspective
In Ottawa you really can’t walk down the street without running into someone you know, knew, or are happy to meet again.
Maybe it’s our size or place between two major Metropoles; maybe it’s just our Valley manners, or the constant silliness on The Hill that provides instant laughter between former strangers.
Whatever the reason, we make friends quickly here because we know folks come and go through our beautiful town on their way to other places. Ottawa is seldom a destination, except for the politically inclined, and many of them settle here after their comedy acts have ended on The Silly Hill.
By its history and development, Canada’s Capital is really just a series of well-established little villages. Centretown, Sandy Hill, New Edinborough, Vanier, Hintonburg, Westboro, to mention just a few, were independent villages with their own micro-economic and political systems more than a century before “Amalgamation.”
“Small Town” friendliness abounds throughout this recent “megalopolis.”
Notice all these villages sprung up on the banks of the Ottawa, Rideau River, or The Canal. We are all geographically consanguine and Riverfolk are universally friendly and hospitable. Living on ancient transportation & trade routes makes people that way.
The common blessings and threats of fast and frozen rivers contribute to our spirit.
Zenophobia is simply drowned out by the group survival mentality necessitated by “River Living.” Ottawa has the greatest number of Volunteers per capita in Canada. We also sing the greatest number of poets in Canada. Always have. That contributes to our spirit.
We live, love, work and play with “passing strangers” every day. The glorious seasonal beauty of our town affects them all and contributes to our spirit.
Only the poor in spirit, cold-hearted or culturally deprived could miss all this on a simple stroll along The Canal in any season. Our Town is a poem.
-- 30jmh --