Having spent many years in other parts of the world I have been reflecting on how a Canadian would react to the 150th anniversary from abroad.

Having recently returned “home” in Canada I now live with a Venezuelan Jesuit who has watched with dismay as his homeland has been ripped apart by political unrest. His own immediate family, which has sought refuge in other countries, suffered the food and prescription drug shortages as well as the breakdown of the rule of law along with other Venezuelans.

I have wondered to myself how I would have felt if such a situation had happened in Canada while I was away. This has been a personal thought experiment because Canada has been spared such a crisis.

Would I have continued to shelter in my safer country? Is there any country that is really “safe” so that it can expect that its future will be free of political or social upheavals? Would I have wanted to return home to try to do something to restore order?

Would I have suffered in silence and pray for my fellow Canadians now suffering turmoil? And what would I want to do, if anything, about my own family?

One option would be to give up on Canada, as my Jesuit confrere seems to have done with Venezuela, and change my citizenship. Is my own commitment to Canada all that durable that it could survive the challenge of political breakdown?

These are questions that I have pondered as I watched Venezuela’s agony. It has made the 150th year anniversary all the more piquant for me because Canada has been thus far spared such a struggle for national survival.