Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on February 25, 2026 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

A cup of Canada

 

Galvanize. Synonym. Animate, spur, fire, electrify, stir, rouse.

Nation building.

We hear the term often coming from the mouths of politicians, but the words often ring hollow. In a wildly diverse country, bringing people together as one, from all walks of life and from hundreds of different countries, renders the task very difficult if not impossible. These days, Canadians are united in their concerns about the leadership (or lack thereof) from our neighbours to the south. This is hardly the way that we want to be galvanized: by fear, uncertainty and tension.

There is one surefire way to bring together Canadians regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation.

Sports.

Sports has the power to unite.

We cheered loudly and proudly when the Toronto Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series in 1992 and were mesmerized by the Toronto Raptors when they won the NBA title in 2019. They were, momentarily “Canada’s Team” just long enough for the star player on that team to bail after just one season. There were precious few Canadians on these teams.

Sorry, baseball and basketball but we are a hockey nation. When our men and women don the red and white jersey, emblazoned with the maple leaf, they are truly representing us because they are one of us – Canadian to the core. Tim Horton swilling, maple syrup lovers.

Those of us old enough will remember vividly the Summit Series of 1972 when Canada faced off against the Russians and won in dramatic fashion leading Canadians to pour into the streets waving our flag and singing our national anthem.

Sidney Crosby’s “Golden Goal” in Vancouver at the 2010 Olympics will be forever remembered by generations of Canadians, young and old.

Another Olympiad concluded last weekend.

Canada came out on the short end of a 2-1 overtime loss to the United States.

There were several games leading up to the gold medal match for the men and the gold medal game for the women, that were heart attack inducing.

The day after our women lost the goal medal game in heart breaking fashion, a friend sent me a description of what had transpired in her office during that game.

 

“This afternoon, productivity at our office was heroically sacrificed in the name of national unity.

It started innocently enough—someone “just checking the score” of the game between the Canada women’s national ice hockey team and the United States women’s national ice hockey team.

Five minutes later, the boardroom had transformed into a makeshift arena.

Now, this is a workplace where Steve from Accounting hasn’t made eye contact with Priya from Marketing since The Great Budget Disagreement of 2024. Where the Sales Team refers to IT as “those people.” Where passive-aggressive emails are considered cardio.

But today? Today was different.

Today, Steve and Priya stood shoulder to shoulder, squinting at a laptop balanced on a stack of annual reports. The Sales Team and IT were united in a common cause: loudly explaining offside rules to each other (incorrectly). Even Margaret from HR, who normally frowns upon “excessive enthusiasm,” was whisper-shouting, “SHOOT!” like a seasoned coach.

When Canada scored, something miraculous happened.

High-fives were exchanged between sworn spreadsheet enemies. Someone draped a red scarf over the photocopier. A chant of “Canada! Canada!” erupted near the coffee machine, where moments earlier a territorial dispute over almond milk had been brewing.

For one glorious hour, deadlines were forgotten, inboxes were ignored, and workplace grudges were placed gently on ice.

It struck me then: sports have this magical power. They take people who won’t share a stapler and turn them into a synchronized cheering section. They remind us that beneath our job titles and petty grievances, we are all just humans who get wildly emotional about a puck sliding across frozen water.

Tomorrow, we’ll return to subtle tension and carefully worded emails.

But today?

Today, our hockey team may have lost but we were, nevertheless, Canada Strong.” IC.

(Names and locations are fictional).

 

Were you watching?

Of course you were.

I was fortunate enough to be in school for several days last week and education took on a whole

new meaning as many lesson plans were altered (or jettisoned) any time the men’s or

women’s teams were competing. All of the games were thrilling and when Canada emerged

victorious, you could feel the school shake.

After each game, I spoke to the students… once we all stopped hyperventilating! I told them that in all likelihood, they would probably forget most of what they learned in their school years. I suggested that what they wouldn’t forget was experiences like this when we come together as a class, a school, a community and a country.

We were galvanized.

Nation building at its finest.

Oh! Canada.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. The students at my school were understandably crushed with Canada’s lost. I took this as a teachable moment. Canada has been on the right side of many gold medal games. You can’t win all the time. Sidney Crosby might well go down as one of the greatest leaders in sport or any other endeavor. The lesson? Display humility in victory and graciousness in defeat. No chest pumping saying that he (or Canada) was the greatest when he won and giving credit to his opponents when his team lost. The definition of class.