It’s Canada’s Birthday. One hundred and fifty-six years ago today we were granted independence by the United Kingdom. It’s a day of celebration, even as the wildfires burn out of control.

As a patriotic Canadian this is where I am supposed to say I live in the best country in the world. Not many years ago those words would have been automatic for me. Now I have to have a qualifier – “one of the best countries in the world.”

Maybe it’s age. Maybe I have been spending too much time with politicians. I don’t have the same optimism about Canada’s future that I once had.

Many days I feel that those in leadership are like Roman Emperor Nero, just fiddling while Canada burns, metaphorically – and this summer literally. (And yes, I know Nero didn’t really play the fiddle while the City of Rome burned.)

It feels though like Canada is drifting, that our leaders are majoring on minors. They seem more concerned about promoting transgender issues than dealing with homelessness, more concentrated on restricting freedom of thought and speech than on runaway inflation.

Actually, gender ideology and free speech are not minor issues – but they aren’t things the average Canadian thinks about as often as the average politician seems to. Those in charge seem to want to reshape society, without first asking if their proposed changes are beneficial.

I now live in a country where one in four people believe the solution to poverty is euthanasia. Does that scare you as much as it does me? What has Canada become?

I could go on, but today is a day to celebrate what is good about Canada, so I’ll stop listing my concerns.

There is however a song that has been running through my head all week. it’s be British singer Garth Hewitt, called “Nero’s Watching Video.” For some reason it struck me as appropriate for Canada today. There’s a YouTube recording at the top of this post, and the lyrics are below.

Happy Canada Day!

Nero’s watching video while Rome begins to burn
Nero’s wearing roller skates so he can quickly turn
Get away from all he does and what to see or what to hear
Nero’s wearing headphones and they stretch from ear to ear

Nero’s got a private world for which the heart may yearn
Nero’s watching video while Rome begins to burn

Tension on the TV, a world out of control
Wounded people weeping, they never touch his soul
Nero’s changing channels, Nero’s moving on
Nero’s feet are moving to a very different song

Oh Nero, can’t you hear them?
Don’t you ever feel the pain?
The words go through his ears
But they never touch his brain

Nero’s watching video while Rome begins to burn
Nero’s wearing roller skates so he can quickly turn
Get away from all he does and what to see or what to hear
Nero’s wearing headphones and they stretch from ear to ear

Nero’s got a private world for which the heart may yearn
Nero’s watching video while Rome begins to burn

Nero, he’s watching video
Nero, he’s at the disco
Nero, he doesn’t want to know
Nero, he’s watching video

He’s moving out, he’s moving up, he’s always moving on
Nero moves his body to a thousand different songs
Nero is the product of an advertiser’s dream
He took in all the slogans, he’s part of the machine

Nero, do you realize
There’s another world outside
Where the poor keep getting poorer
And the hungry just die

Nero’s watching video while Rome begins to burn
Nero’s wearing roller skates so he can quickly turn
Get away from all he does and what to see or what to hear
Nero’s wearing headphones and they stretch from ear to ear

Nero, he’s watching video
Nero, he’s at the disco
Nero, he doesn’t want to know
Nero, he’s watching video
Nero, he’s at the disco
Nero, he doesn’t want to know
Nero, Nero, Nero, Nero, Nero, Nero, Nero, Nero