Courage: It didn't come, It doesn't matter.

Americans, we need to talk about The Tragically Hip and courage. And Canadians, you can listen too. Uh, The Hip, one of Canada's most beloved bands, carved memories into generations with their songs. For lots of us up here, their music became a soundtrack for our lives. Still is. The band's singer Gord Downie could weave pride and nostalgia and longing into all of us. Every Canadian can sing at least one hip song. Ahead by a Century, New Orleans is Sinking, or my favourite, Courage. It's a great song, but until all of this chaos lately, there's a line I never understood. It's the chorus. It goes, Courage. It didn't come. It doesn't matter. It couldn't come at a worse time. And I've always thought, like, that is so depressing. What was Gord Downie trying to say? I think in the context of all this chaos, I understand it a little better. You know, courage doesn't look like the way we think it will. In the movies, like, it comes with a fanfare and a parade after, stitched onto flags and shouted from podiums. Maybe when it's the worst time. Courage is just staying. Staying when we know that it would be easier to leave. Listening when it would be easier to shout. Taking to the streets instead of posting on Facebook. Showing up again and again when everything around you says, "Why bother?" I can't imagine what American trans people are going through. I can't imagine what immigrants are going through, or what it feels like to live knowing that your safety hinges on the outcome of some other guy's vote. But the song— I feel like I get it now. The song's name is not actually Courage, by the way. It's Courage for Hugh McLennan. MacLennan wasn't a war hero or a political giant. He was a guy that wrote novels about Canada when people said that it was pointless, Canada was too small, too quiet, no one would care. Gord Downie, as the story goes, was on tour and he was reading one of MacLennan's novels, The Watch That Ends the Night, which is about a lot of things, but mostly something I think we all feel right now. The weight of carrying on when there's no clear path. He wrote it in the worst time, after his wife died. Courage. It couldn't come at a worse time. This chaos. Every hour a new headline, every day a new target. Like, who, who could blame us for choosing Inertia. But you know what I see out there? I see defiance, not surrender. I see people stepping up without waiting for courage to arrive. It didn't come. It doesn't matter. Action doesn't always spring from strength. Sometimes just carrying on, scared, Uncertain. Sometimes that's enough. It's been almost 8 years since cancer extinguished Gord Downie's light. We can't ask him what he meant, but I like to think he left the answer behind. Yes, we're overwhelmed. But we are not broken. We will meet this chaos on our terms. It couldn't come at a worse time. Carrots! Carrot!