Rocky Mountain House, Alberta
Flying a flag upside down is a navigational distress signal, a call for help.
Obviously, there are a lot of people in distress and in need of help between our place and Rocky Mountain House. Flags like this litter Highway 22.
We built a cabin at Crimson Lake near Rocky Mountain House 30 years ago. I can’t count the number of trips we have made there over the years, 200? 300?
It is a beautiful drive through Foothills and Parkland. Majestic mountains loom off to the west, with rolling hills that undulate through mixed spruce and aspen forest.
I can’t take credit for the photo above, but this is our view as we navigate northward along Highway 22.
My most recent trip to the cabin last Thursday was different. Instead of taking in the natural beauty, I was distracted by dozens of signs and political slogans posted along the way, many with appallingly negative messages. By the time I reached Crimson Lake I was in pain over what I saw happening in our province.
My first disappointment happened before I left my own neighbourhood. One of our neighbours has posted an upside-down Canadian flag at the end of his driveway. I don’t know what his motivation is, but it conveys a message of hostility.
My dispirited feeling grew deeper as I continued northward.
This flag near Cremona sends a confusing, and more than a little disturbing message.
The flag depicts a Gadsden, a coiled rattlesnake with the words “Don’t Tread on Me” beneath it.
The Gadsden image was first used as a symbol of the ideals of the American Revolution. The original thirteen colonies adopted the snake as a unified symbol of freedom. The serpent and the motto used together was a message to the British,
“Step on Us and We Will Bite You.”
Rocky View County residents overlaid the snake image on a Confederate flag and hung it on a fence near the highway, for purposes I cannot fathom. The composite flag conveys a confusing message,
“If you mess with our right to own slaves, we will bite you?”
I am sure the owner of the flag isn’t advocating for slavery, or snake bites, but I truly don’t understand the message. I don’t think the flag owner does either. Just another distress call.
I don’t like Justin Trudeau much, but advocating carnal relations with the Prime Minister seems like an inferior form of protest.
What message does this flag convey to you?
What should our children or grandchildren, passing by on the school bus make of it?
This trucker in Sundre has a wide array of grievances expressed in decals on his Chevy Diesel Dually.
I never met the driver, but I was thinking: Angry old white guy, with a beer belly and an IQ roughly the size of his hat band, 6 7/8.
That last comment was nasty. Whatever is causing such vitriol in rural Alberta is obviously rubbing off on me. I need your help. I’m putting out a distress call.
What should the people of rural Alberta and I do to adjust our focus away from negativity, back to the natural beauty, the boundless opportunity, and the abundant advantages we enjoy, …
… Living in Alberta?
Terry
I think the AB oil jobs provided the average person with “abundance” compared to us in SK and other provinces. Now with the downturn or loss of some of those high paying jobs and cushy life style, these negative, ego-centric people have to blame someone – generally it’s Trudeau. I’m too busy to delve into AB’s woes, so you who live there might know better who’s to blame.
Russ Paton
When I first moved here from Sask, I always marvelled at how easy everything was, to get a job, to make a living, no taxes…. Sadly, people have grown to believe that is their right, they are so quick to blame somebody else when things don’t go their way, and do it in such a hostile way.
Judy
I agree Russ, an attitude borrowed (hopefully not kept) from our southern friends. Hoping that we can get past the nasty politics and back to treating people (even those we don’t like) with respect. And sadly, those kids on the bus have probably heard some of the same at home.
Russ Paton
Sad, but true…
Val
Good question. Isla goes to kindergarten this year and I expect will be reading better than I do soon. What goes through her mind the first time she figures out what that sign says? And when Myles figures out what a confederate flag stands for? We have to do better for them.
Russ Paton
Maybe the tide will start to turn if the rest of us push back a bit…
GG
Good question, and sad that you have to ask it. I’ve wondered the same thing myself, are these signs of real grievances or just symbols of oneupmanship in harddonebyness?. I too would like to know.
Russ Paton
A phenomenon borrowed from our neighbours to the south, but one I wish they had kept….