Can We Celebrate Without Divisions?

Speaker: 00:00:02

If there's one thing we've learned about business and life is that people are the X

factor.

2

: 00:00:06

They constantly surprise us both in amazing ways and not so much.

3

: 00:00:11

We're Ben and Sia and welcome to the Nod On This Business Bites podcast.

4

: 00:00:16

This show is all about real life things we all deal with every day, how they relate to

business and how to make some sense out of our daily chaos.

5

: 00:00:25

Welcome to the show.

6

: 00:00:37

And welcome back to another episode of non this business bites.

7

: 00:00:39

Guess what week it is this guys.

8

: 00:00:41

It's Canada day and 4th of July.

9

: 00:00:44

I know they're three days apart.

10

: 00:00:46

It's confusing.

11

: 00:00:48

The question is, is there a, I can't talk about tariffs.

12

: 00:00:50

I'm not sorry.

13

: 00:00:51

I'm not allowed to talk about tariffs.

14

: 00:00:52

You know, but Oh, did I say that out loud?

15

: 00:00:57

Yes.

16

: 00:00:59

No, but seriously, I love this time of year.

17

: 00:01:04

You know, I love this time of year.

18

: 00:01:05

It's the beginning of the summer.

19

: 00:01:08

is, you know, it's pomp, it's circumstance, it's pride.

20

: 00:01:12

It's, you know, it's pride of country.

21

: 00:01:15

It's pride of people.

22

: 00:01:17

It's celebration.

23

: 00:01:18

It's picnics.

24

: 00:01:20

It's everything that goes with it.

25

: 00:01:22

And I get to watch fireworks.

26

: 00:01:23

mean, what better thing for me is I get fireworks both on Canada Day and 4th of July, you

know, 30 miles apart.

27

: 00:01:30

Life is a beautiful thing.

28

: 00:01:32

Can I ask you a quick question though before we go on?

29

: 00:01:36

What actually is Canada Day?

30

: 00:01:39

Canada Day is the 4th of July.

31

: 00:01:41

When Canada became a constitutional country in 1867.

32

: 00:01:48

Okay, so I mean, you're still part of the Commonwealth, you are still an independent and

33

: 00:01:52

are in the we are an independent country, but we are part of the common.

34

: 00:01:59

We still have the Queen on our money soon to be the king as soon as the next as soon as

the next you know money gets gets Put into distribution exactly, but we are definitely

35

: 00:02:13

part of the commonwealth, but in 1867 and July 1st Canada became a country and With that

e so we're we're coming up on: 1867

36

: 00:02:29

That's awesome.

37

: 00:02:30

Well, congratulations, Canada.

38

: 00:02:32

Thank you.

39

: 00:02:32

We made it, you know, and guess what?

40

: 00:02:35

We're not going anywhere.

41

: 00:02:38

So, you know, and Hey, by the way, guys, I've always wanted to ask and I was always

embarrassed to ask.

42

: 00:02:43

And I said, screw it.

43

: 00:02:44

I'm going to ask just, just because, but okay.

44

: 00:02:47

So that is awesome that you guys are independent.

45

: 00:02:50

And I'm glad I asked as a dumb American because you know, we don't get other country

history lessons.

46

: 00:02:55

We can barely get our own damn country down and we're the, and we're a young country.

47

: 00:02:59

Freaking American public schools.

48

: 00:03:01

I'm kidding.

49

: 00:03:01

I liked my school system, public education.

50

: 00:03:04

shouldn't say anything else.

51

: 00:03:05

I mean, yeah, I, I.

52

: 00:03:09

I want to clarify when I say public education system, I actually was very fortunate.

53

: 00:03:13

I went to a really good school, like really good school system.

54

: 00:03:17

And I also want to shout out all the teachers out there.

55

: 00:03:20

You guys are fighting the uphill.

56

: 00:03:22

You guys are the salmon going up upstream.

57

: 00:03:24

So you can only work in the parameters that you're in and you can only work in the

parameters that you're in set by not only the government, politics and parents.

58

: 00:03:34

So anyway, sorry.

59

: 00:03:35

And God knows the parents are just as bad as the politics sometimes.

60

: 00:03:38

And that's why I said a salmon going upstream.

61

: 00:03:41

don't I mean, I used to think it was inappropriate to give like, you know, teachers like

bottles of wine, I think 100 % it's appropriate damage Janet.

62

: 00:03:50

or scotch, wine, whatever they can get.

63

: 00:03:54

them that Martinelli's if they don't drink but they deserve a tasty beverage at the end of

the day.

64

: 00:03:59

That's all I'm saying.

65

: 00:04:00

Absolutely.

66

: 00:04:01

you know, back back to independence and back to, you know, it's pro it's pride of country,

whether it's whether it's pride of country in Canada versus pride of country in the United

67

: 00:04:11

States.

68

: 00:04:11

mean, right now, Canada is, know, without getting into the politics of it, it's it's it's

elbows up, it's wrap yourself in the flag.

69

: 00:04:20

It's it's amazingly how, you know, prideful Canada has become because Canada is not known

as being

70

: 00:04:29

outwardly jingoistic or nationalistic country.

71

: 00:04:33

But right now, in this current situation, in the current realm of politics, the Canadian

viewpoint is we are all Canadian from coast to coast to coast, all the way from the just

72

: 00:04:49

south of the North Pole to Newfoundland, all the way out to British Columbia and

everywhere in between.

73

: 00:04:54

It's amazing the sense of pride.

74

: 00:04:58

that Canadians, as do Americans.

75

: 00:05:02

Americans are absolutely, wrap themselves in the flag and the apple pie and all that kind

of stuff.

76

: 00:05:09

And I think it's a wonderful thing because we all should be proud of who we are.

77

: 00:05:14

We should be proud of who we are.

78

: 00:05:16

We should be proud of where we came from.

79

: 00:05:18

We should be proud of our history, the good, the bad and the ugly.

80

: 00:05:21

Exactly.

81

: 00:05:22

We should all be proud of saying, trying to rewrite history to me just doesn't make any

sense because

82

: 00:05:28

We all came from somewhere.

83

: 00:05:30

We did what we did based on the knowledge that we had yesterday, which may not be correct

tomorrow, but that doesn't mean that we were wrong.

84

: 00:05:39

It just means we did our best given the situation we were in.

85

: 00:05:44

And I think that we need to learn from history, appreciate history, celebrate history of

all different types and be able to say, okay, that's where we were, here's where we are

86

: 00:05:57

today, and this is where we're going.

87

: 00:05:59

And I believe that National Pride is aspiring to something greater.

88

: 00:06:04

It's always aspiring to something greater.

89

: 00:06:06

And I think that that's what Canada Day and Fourth of July really mean to me.

90

: 00:06:12

It's celebrating who we are today, it's celebrating our past, and it's celebrating who we

can become.

91

: 00:06:20

I like that.

92

: 00:06:20

I really like that.

93

: 00:06:21

really think it's so needed these days, right?

94

: 00:06:25

I think we're so politicized.

95

: 00:06:27

I think we're so polarized and we do need something above the fray that we can all rally

around, that we can be proud of who we are collectively.

96

: 00:06:40

And there's only a couple of things I think of, I can think of that would be that unifier.

97

: 00:06:46

One of which is

98

: 00:06:47

an event such as, you know, 4th of July, Canada Day to say, yeah, let's celebrate that,

you know, this world that we inhabit, right?

99

: 00:06:56

We have our allegiance to our countries and that's great.

100

: 00:06:59

Not, not the jingoist like, you know, my country's better than yours.

101

: 00:07:04

Just simply proud of the fact that I live in a country that is a good, wholesome country

that, you know, it's not perfect, but we do try to live in a peaceful, you know, society.

102

: 00:07:15

to live within a set of beliefs.

103

: 00:07:17

Right.

104

: 00:07:18

I think the only other one, uh, is music.

105

: 00:07:22

think music is the only other thing that can bring people together.

106

: 00:07:25

Doesn't matter what your belief systems are.

107

: 00:07:28

Something about a good tune, a good melody, a good harmony, the way the beats resonate.

108

: 00:07:35

think that is, I mean, I've been to enough concerts where you, it's such a mixed bag of

people there.

109

: 00:07:42

I mean, you've got people wearing political shirts.

110

: 00:07:45

You got people wearing nothing.

111

: 00:07:47

You know, but but And everything in between and but the music is what pulls everybody

together, right?

112

: 00:07:56

And I think it kind of like no you think about it.

113

: 00:07:59

It does remind me You know damnit Janet and reference the rock your picture show I think

the Rocky Horror Picture Show brings everyone together.

114

: 00:08:06

Okay, I'm kidding.

115

: 00:08:07

Not really I do is

116

: 00:08:09

It certainly brings a tribe of people together, that's for sure.

117

: 00:08:12

Well, under right.

118

: 00:08:13

but remember the Coke commercial I'd like to teach the world to see.

119

: 00:08:17

to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.

120

: 00:08:22

Yes, 1971 Coke ad was redone for their 50th anniversary.

121

: 00:08:27

Did it?

122

: 00:08:28

Look it up on YouTube.

123

: 00:08:29

Yeah, they brought in the children and the grandchildren and some of the original singers,

I do believe, of the original Coke ad singers.

124

: 00:08:39

they did a 50th anniversary.

125

: 00:08:40

So look up uh Coke.

126

: 00:08:45

want to teach the world to sing 50th anniversary on YouTube.

127

: 00:08:49

This is for all the geeks in the world.

128

: 00:08:50

ah I'm head of the geek squad.

129

: 00:08:54

And I believe there's a 50th anniversary version of that Coke ad.

130

: 00:08:58

uh

131

: 00:08:59

see it right now man.

132

: 00:09:01

Well, you know what?

133

: 00:09:03

can see if you could plug it into you can see if you can plug it in.

134

: 00:09:06

Yeah, hold on without without copyright infringement.

135

: 00:09:09

Yeah.

136

: 00:09:09

me see if I can do it.

137

: 00:09:10

Let me check first while we're talking here if I can do copyright infringement.

138

: 00:09:14

Fringement.

139

: 00:09:15

Fringement.

140

: 00:09:16

There we go.

141

: 00:09:18

if you can, if you can plug it in, plug it in.

142

: 00:09:20

If not, everybody go, everybody go looking for it and I'll see if I'll see if I can put it

into the, into the show notes.

143

: 00:09:26

Maybe I'll go, maybe I'll go looking for it and put it in the show notes, but we need to

sit there and look at the world and sit there and say, you know what?

144

: 00:09:36

We can always aspire to be better.

145

: 00:09:38

We can always aspire to be.

146

: 00:09:41

You know, to elevate, to bring more people together, to create common good, to look beyond

the division and look into what unites us as people.

147

: 00:09:52

And I think that's what Canada Day and Fourth of July do best, is they bring people

together from all walks of life to celebrate together, you know, the birth of a country.

148

: 00:10:06

And the fact that there's more that unites us than divides us.

149

: 00:10:10

And there are more that we agree upon than we disagree upon.

150

: 00:10:14

And I think that yes, yes, we have challenges.

151

: 00:10:17

Yes, we have disagreements.

152

: 00:10:18

Yes, we have polarity.

153

: 00:10:20

But in the end, we are all either Americans or Canadians.

154

: 00:10:26

And I think that if we focus on that and we focus when we do that, when we celebrate, I

think there's a far better chance of us elevating this country and elevating the people

155

: 00:10:38

within it.

156

: 00:10:39

to be able to move into someplace better.

157

: 00:10:43

And I think that there is all, what that someplace better is gonna mean different things

to different people and that's okay.

158

: 00:10:48

That's what the conversation's about.

159

: 00:10:50

But it's having that conversation and say, how do we become a better nation together?

160

: 00:10:58

And how do we take, know, instead of me being right and you being wrong and I'm not happy

until you're unhappy.

161

: 00:11:05

we get to a point where saying is how do we create something different together or

something more effective together.

162

: 00:11:14

And I think that that's where we need to be.

163

: 00:11:17

I couldn't agree more.

164

: 00:11:18

think just, you know, let's just be good humans.

165

: 00:11:22

Right.

166

: 00:11:23

And because because yes, it's great to rally around.

167

: 00:11:26

Yes.

168

: 00:11:27

Yes.

169

: 00:11:27

Yes.

170

: 00:11:28

Yes.

171

: 00:11:28

Yes.

172

: 00:11:28

We do.

173

: 00:11:29

Come on.

174

: 00:11:29

Our two respective countries that we're talking about is pretty darn great in a grand

scheme of things.

175

: 00:11:34

Right.

176

: 00:11:35

uh But ultimately, I think it's just a reminder.

177

: 00:11:38

Yeah, be proud, but also be human.

178

: 00:11:40

We are human.

179

: 00:11:41

We have basic needs.

180

: 00:11:43

We all want love.

181

: 00:11:44

We want peace.

182

: 00:11:45

We want to celebrate that where we live is a safe place to be.

183

: 00:11:49

And some countries don't have that option.

184

: 00:11:51

So I think this is a great opportunity to remember how good we have it.

185

: 00:11:56

Let's live in gratitude for this.

186

: 00:11:58

Let's live in appreciation that I can respectfully disagree with you, Ben.

187

: 00:12:05

And I think that's beautiful.

188

: 00:12:09

And that's beautiful.

189

: 00:12:10

Absolutely.

190

: 00:12:12

So let's, let's leave it there.

191

: 00:12:13

Let's leave it there.

192

: 00:12:14

You know, happy Canada day, happy 4th of July.

193

: 00:12:18

And you know, this is Business Bites.

194

: 00:12:21

I'm Ben and we'll see you next week.

195

: 00:12:26

Hey hey hey, thanks for listening to another episode of Not On This Business Fights.

196

: 00:12:32

If you liked what you heard, be most humbly asked that you like, share, and hit that

subscribe button.

197

: 00:12:39

If you want to communicate more effectively within your organization, contact ben at

imbenbaker.com or me at brilliantbeammedia.com.

198

: 00:12:50

We can help you build your community, brand awareness, and personality.

199

: 00:12:55

digital content and podcasting.

200

: 00:12:58

We cannot wait to hear from you.

201

: 00:13:00

See you next week for another episode of Non This Business Pites.