Read Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul Online
Authors: Jack Canfield
Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul (3 page)
Peter Vegso, Terry Burke, Kelly Maragni, Elizabeth Rinaldi, Lori Golden and Irena Xanthos at Health Communications, Inc., for their wonderful sales and marketing efforts.
Christine Belleris, Lisa Drucker, Allison Janse, Susan Tobias and Kathy Grant, our editors at Health Communications, Inc., for their combined hard work editing and designing this book with such expertise and dedication.
Kim Weiss, Paola Fernandez and Maria Dinoia, Health Communications’ brilliant publicity team, whose efforts continue to keep our books on the bestseller lists.
Randee Feldman,
Chicken Soup for the Soul
product manager at Health Communications, Inc., for her masterful coordination and support of all the
Chicken Soup
projects.
Lisa Camp and Larissa Hise at Health Communications, Inc., for their inspiring and cooperative efforts to complete the cover design of this book.
In Toronto, Dan Sullivan, teacher and mentor, whose wisdom has brought greater clarity, ease and abundance to so many.
The special members of the Monthly Mentor and The Wealth Creator Source across Canada, who make Raymond’s work the greatest joy a person could experience.
Raymond’s dear friends Lon Rosen, Tim Johnson, Our Wayne Patterson, Stephen Bezruchka, and Martin Rutte. How empty Raymond’s life would be without having you guys to love in this lifetime.
Janet’s dear friends Alex McLeish, Ramona Machado, Darlene Montgomery, Shirley Rainer, Barb Allport, Marilyn Lake-Lee, Sheila Jeffrey, James Corby, Jamie Yeo and Frannie Kalusa. When the going got tough, you guys showed up.
Peter and Maureen Kolossa, Helen Valleau, Dale De Nunzio and Dawn Johnson of the Hoffman Quadrinity Process (
www.quadrinity.com
). The wonderful work you do in helping others (like us) find their way back to themselves is instrumental in creating world peace, one person at a time. Thank you for your dedication and your love.
Barbara Underhill, Paul Martini, Kurt Browning, Rick Hansen, Paul Henderson, Natalie MacMaster, Jann Arden, Pamela Wallin, Faye Dance, Ted Mahovlich, Lynn Johnston, Leslie Scrivener and Sally Armstrong for opening their hearts and sharing, in their own words, their special stories with all Canadians. We can’t thank you enough.
And last, but not least, Marilyn Bell Di Lascio. The image she shared in her own words of swimming, so many years ago, through the night—exhausted, frightened of the lake, petrified of the dark and yet filled with such dogged determination to reach her goal—will stay with us forever. She inspired and moved us in ways that cannot be put into words. Thank you Marilyn—we will be forever grateful.
Because of the immensity of this project, it is possible we may have left out the names of some people who helped us along the way. If so, please accept our apologies and know that you are appreciated. We are so very grateful for the many hands and hearts that helped make this book possible. We love you all!
During the nearly four years it took to compile this book, we were asked several questions repeatedly: “What will make this
Chicken Soup
book different from all the other
Chicken Soup
titles? How will you make this book a true reflection of our diverse and historic Canadian heritage?” “What exactly is
Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul
anyway?”
When we first began collecting stories, the answers to these questions were not clear. After all, the Canadian identity is multidimensional as well as multicultural. As Canadians, we find our roots in so many different places around the world. How could we create a collection of stories that represented them all? In addition,
Chicken Soup
for the Soul
stories are traditionally nonpolitical and noncontroversial. Yet Canada, by its very existence, is a political entity, and its historic origins are steeped in controversy. Many of those controversies are part of the Canadian fabric of life to this day; they continuously challenge us to stretch and grow and to be the best people and country we can be.
How could we assemble a collection of stories that would truly represent everything Canada is—and everyone who lives here? At some point it became apparent we simply could not. But we knew we
could
put together a book of wonderful, inspirational, heart-opening stories, which people would love to read and which would make us feel proud to be Canadians.
We decided we needed stories from people living in as many different places in Canada as possible. We searched from Cape Breton Island to Vancouver Island, and in every province and territory in between. We looked for stories in big cities, small towns, villages and rural communities all across this beautiful country. We sought stories from teachers and students, professional writers and professional homemakers, athletes and musicians, journalists and entertainers, First Nations Communities, historians and war veterans, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Coast Guard—just about anybody we could think of. We did our best to tell our storytellers just what we were after. And then the stories started to arrive.
When we had a group of stories we liked, we ran them past a panel of Canadian readers and asked the panel for comments. They told us what they liked and what they didn’t. Eventually, a pattern began to emerge—and our spines started to tingle. We realized that what we were doing had never been done before in this country, and we were honoured to the tips of our toes to be doing it! Our love and commitment to this unique and special project grew into a passion.
What we present to you now is the result of reading over 6,000 stories during the past four years. In addition to the rich treasure of ordinary Canadians telling us their personal and heretofore unknown stories, we tried our best to include the stories of many well-known and beloved Canadians as well. Barbara Underhill and Paul Martini were delighted to share with us the story of their memorable gold medal skate at the 1984 World Championships in Ottawa. “For Better or For Worse” cartoonist Lynn Johnston submitted a wonderful story about an encounter with Wayne Gretzky. Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster shared a very touching story with us, proving she is as delightful offstage as she is on. Kurt Browning sent us a story sharing his unique perspective on skating in the Olympics. Pamela Wallin gave her insight into how patriotic Canadians really are.
Toronto Star
writer Leslie Scrivener tells us again the story we all carry in our hearts—the legacy of Terry Fox. We are honoured to present you with these and all the other wonderful stories we found. We hope you are as touched and proud reading these stories as we have been compiling and editing them.
There are many stories we have not told in this book. We may not have included a story on a particular theme, person, group of people or Canadian region because we either couldn’t find a story appropriate for a
Chicken Soup for the
Soul
collection, or we couldn’t find the writer of a story we did have.
If you have or know of a story that you feel should have been in the book but wasn’t, we invite you to submit it to us for consideration for a second edition.
That being said, we feel we have assembled a wonderful collection of stories that all Canadians can truly be proud of. And while there are many diverse stories from ordinary people exploring universal themes of love, compassion, forgiveness, family, acceptance and courage, there is one golden thread that weaves its way through this book—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically. That thread is the passionate love all Canadians have for this land that offers them so much, this land they call home. In the end, these stories are not about language, culture, politics, or where one’s parents or grandparents came from. These stories are about the love, pride and gratitude we all share in being Canadian. We hope these tales will in turn inspire you, touch your heart and make you smile.
From our hearts to yours, we are thrilled and proud to offer you
Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul.
We would love to hear your reactions to the stories in this book. Please let us know what your favourite stories were and how they affected you.
We also invite you to send us stories you would like to see published in future editions of
Chicken Soup for the
Canadian Soul.
You can send us either stories you have written or stories written by others. Please send submissions to:
Chicken Soup for the Canadian Soul
2-9225 Leslie Street
Richmond Hill
ON Canada L4B 3H6
Fax: 905-881-8996
Phone: 905-881-8995 x28
[email protected]
You can also access e-mail or find a current list of planned books at the
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Web site at
www.chickensoup.com
.
Find out about our Internet service at
www.clubchickensoup.com
.
We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed compiling, editing and writing it.
I am a Canadian,
free to speak without fear,
free to worship in my own way,
free to stand for what I think right,
free to oppose what I believe wrong,
or free to choose those
who shall govern my country.
This heritage of freedom
I pledge to uphold
for myself and all mankind.
Former Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker
O
ne thing you know about Canadian
people is they’re proud to be Canadian.
My kids were born in the United States.
They should be proud of their country
and they are, but I’m a Canadian.
I was born in Canada and I’m proud
of my country. That never leaves you.
Wayne Gretzky
I
liken Canada to a garden . . . a garden into
which have been transplanted the hardiest and
brightest flowers from many lands, each retaining
in its new environment the best of the qualities
for which it was loved and prized in its
native land.
Former Prime Minister John G. Diefenbaker
One day when I was seventeen my best friend, Shelley, invited me to her home after school to meet her grandmother. When we arrived, a slim, fragile-looking, elderly lady with white hair and many wrinkles greeted us warmly. In a thick accent she invited us to help ourselves to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. While we ate she asked many questions about our personal lives and listened intently to our answers. We both felt her genuine interest, and in spite of her accent, we understood her clearly. Her piercing, deep-blue eyes sparkled as we talked, and her smile radiated a lifetime of inner strength and integrity. She captivated me.
She noted how fortunate we were to have such beautiful clothes, nice furniture and time to spend with our friends. When she excused herself for a moment, Shelley and I stared at each other in astonishment at her grandmother’s appreciation of all the little things that we took for granted. In a whisper, Shelley explained that her grandmother had grown up in the Ukraine, where life had been very difficult. When she returned to the room, Grandma expressed her great pleasure in seeing all her children and grandchildren able to go to school and learn. When the conversation turned to my approaching eighteenth birthday, Grandma was thrilled and exclaimed how excited I must be at the thought of voting for the first time. Frankly, I had thought of all sorts of good things I would be able to do when I was eighteen, but voting wasn’t one of them. I told her so.
A little saddened by my cynicism, Shelley’s grandmother asked in her broken English if I would like to hear the story of her journey to Canada. She said she had not shared the details with many people, including Shelley. When I agreed, she began to tell her tale.
“Grandpa, myself and our six children lived in extremely modest conditions in the Ukraine. Everyone in the family who was old enough had to work. Our two eldest children were eight and ten. They did odd jobs for people who paid them with food rather than money.
“The other four children were too young to work, so they helped me with the household chores. The government did not want the people to be independent and think for themselves, and to ensure this, they prevented us from attending any religious services and forced us to worship the government. They also banned reading and writing, closed all the schools and destroyed all the books that disagreed with their oppressive philosophy. Anyone caught not complying with the new, closed-minded edict was put in prison. In spite of these severe consequences, those who knew how to read and write secretly taught those who did not. Many people managed to hide some of their beloved classic books before they could be destroyed.