Returning our "we" to us

EcoAut

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Sunday November 09, 2008 · 7:46 AM PST

2008/11/09 · 07:46

In the fall of 2006, fiercely frustrated with the U.S., I left North Carolina for a year and a half to study in Sweden with students from around the world. The first month of classes we presented "My Country in 5 Minutes," a summary for our environment-minded classmates. I began my presentation with a hand-written transparency:

Dear Class,

I'm sorry my country is destroying the world.

P.S. I didn't vote for him.

My friends in Sweden may remember those first months what disgust I felt for my country, a country I knew to be beautiful and full of people I loved, but that had twice voted for travesty and seemed none the wiser for it. A country that refused to engage the world on environmental issues that I worried would soon come back to bite us. I could not bear to label myself Canadian while traveling abroad, but I frequently introduced myself as an American who hadn't voted for "him." Everyone know who "he" was.

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