I rode the Blackcomb Gondola the other day with a guest from Seattle and his two children. We were making small talk when the father bemoaned the price of lift tickets (fair) and then said, “No worries, it will be cheaper when you’re the 51st state.”
I was gobsmacked into silence. This guest of our country had a terrible understanding of economics and the exchange rate and an even worse sense of timing—it was Flag Day in Canada. What I wish I’d said was, “If that’s supposed to be a joke, it’s not funny. It’s rude and disrespectful when your president says it, and equally rude and disrespectful when you say it.”
American guests, please go home and tell your friends we like you fine enough, we even like some of you a lot, but we don’t want to be you.
