I have lived in Canada since 1975 and in all that time I have not witnessed much overt patriotism. Canadians love to win international hockey games, of course, and they express a lot of emotions on those occasions, but otherwise they are usually understated in their love of their country, even though they feel it very strongly.

Once, decades ago when my parents were visiting, my father was dismayed to see a lot of Canadian national flags outside a Petro Canada gas station. He asked what all the flags were for and I had to confess my ignorance. After he harrumphed he said, “Flags cause wars,” and I have never forgotten it. In fact, it is a story I have told many times and my eldest son reminded me of it this week.

We were having a brief text exchange about events in the United States, the US president, and protests against Tesla cars. Neither of us was up for an argument but when I was getting agitated, my son reminded me of my father’s wisdom long ago and the futility of raging at symbols. He was right, of course.

Even so, symbols matter. They matter because they trigger our emotions, and when we have no other means to express ourselves, we respond with our feelings and our symbols.

Today, quite by chance, Canadian patriotism made itself known to me twice. First, at my weekly exercise class the instructor had set his musical accompaniment to play only Canadian music. When he told us this, we applauded. It was a spontaneous heart-felt moment. We were just a small group, grunting to the oldies, but we were very glad to do it with Canadian songs to inspire us, and the significance of the choice was recognized with cheers.

Then, this afternoon I made a decision I had been contemplating for a while. Several months ago I had booked to take an Alaska cruise in 2026 with some family members from the UK, but it bothered me because the trip was with a US cruise ship company. I wanted to take the trip and spend time with my family but I didn’t want to do it with an American business. So, I wrote to the people I was to travel with and explained why I was planning to withdraw from the trip. I hoped they would understand. Sure enough, they did, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

The economic turmoil that has been created in Canada by the actions of the American president is beginning to be felt in the UK, too, and so my family members appreciated my dilemma and supported my choice. It lifted a weight from my shoulders to know this, and made it easier for me to cancel my booking.

Canadians are not often loud in their patriotism, but we are united in our opposition to the recent threats from the United States. Even though those threats are not coming from all Americans, the response is coming from the vast majority of Canadians, and that response is evident in some big national policies as well as many small individual actions.

My exercise class leader choosing Canadian music and my decision to cancel a trip to Alaska may not be big events, but they contribute to a nation-wide response that is beginning to be felt. I only hope that the person who needs to feel it the most actually, eventually, does.