Ray

Superpower does not mean only having fancy weapons and a large armed force.

To be a superpower one has to have the some of the following too:

1. A super economy that can squeeze the others when required. As also get countries on its bandwagon with just a wag of the finger.

2. An international standing, politically.

3. An abundance of strategic mineral and other resources.

4. A excellent industrial and defence production structure.

5. A population that is highly patriotic whose morale will not sink at the first bombing or having military casualties.

6. Adequate population to sustain the loss of manpower in battle.

And then come a motivated, well trained, well experienced large armed force and hi tech weapons.

Officer of Engineers

It's the soldier, not the reporter who has given us
Freedom of the Press.

It's the soldier, not the poet, who has given us
Freedom of Speech.

It's the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the
Freedom to Demonstrate.

It's the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the
Right to a Fair Trial.

It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and
whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who gives the protestor the right to burn the flag.

-Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, USMC

__________________
Chimo

Ray

Colonel,

That is a good quote.

Tronic

I'm only dishonoring Canada, not my country!!!lol. I actually respect the people that fought for MY country, and I don't stop anyone Canadian for respecting people that fougt for them.
Actually, i wasn't dishonoring Canada either. I just cracked at a joke at their national anthem. Their anthem goes like... "Our Home and Native land..." Actually I don't think Canada is any white kids native land, only aboriginal peoples Native land. So you see, the anthem doesn't suite anyone blck, brown or white as their forefathers most likely migrated from other countries. It's only the native land of aboriginal people.

Veni Vidi Vici

Fooled the hell outa me.

__________________
"Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS…" -- Thomas Paine

Ray

Tronic,

If you are enjoying the hospitality of Canada, I think it is wrong to dishonour your host.

I don't know which your native country but in India, that would be sacrilege as would any insult to the guest.

Tronic

What hospitality??? I have been forced to study here by my parents. I mean they could've sent me somewhere warmer to study but nooo... If it was up to me, i would pack up my bags and run back home. I have had to live like this for 7 friggin years. Living alone in a country with everyone you know sitting in a different country... man... you seriously don't know how hard it is. And where ever you go, the people here soo friggin proud. I mean, they keep tellin me that people like me come to Canada because of "push" factors like war, civil disorder, or sumthin. I mean they just assume that thats why people like me come to Canada. The truth is, our parents sitting back home think that studying in Western countries is so great, tell you the truth, studies in India are much better, yet the only thing is, it's easier to get a job here (well... easier in America) then India because the competition there is SOOO friggin high.

Julie

Sounds like to me you have a wet diaper and someone needs to change it.

If you will read what you just posted, it sounds to me like your parents are also well aware of those circumstances you have described, and have made their decisions based upon them. You should be thankful to have parents as caring enough to leave their homeland for your best interests. You have just as much to be proud of as the people in the country allowing you this passage to your future.

Stop whining.

Jay

Well, you got accepted in a Canadian University and they let you live in that country like a first rate citizen. Thats called hospitality for a start...

Also, you dont have the guts to say to your parents that you dont want to be in Canada. Obviously they knew a lot about Canada, than you do.

And *****ing a country, regardless of Canada or India in a military forum, when you have servicemen from those countries posting in the same forum is uncalled for, and you really need to think about posting in this forum twice.

__________________
A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

lemontree

Tronic,
The only Canadians I came across were some clients of my company from Calgery, an oil company (Precision Drilling). They were very respectful, and decent gentlemen, very unlike some from another country (which I shall not name).
You may find the culture different and feel isolated, but that is how things are in the west, unlike the east where everyone wants to peep into your life.

__________________

Cheers!...on the rocks!!

Tronic

First of all, Julie, you can't tell me what my circumstances were. I don't mean to say ALL Canadians but most of the canadians just "assume" stuff. I wasn't a two year old baby that I didn't know what my circumstances in India were. I mean, most of the Canadians here, don't know ANYTHING about the world outside Canada/America. The only reason I had to come to Canada to study was becuase back home in my country, the comptetion to get in a decent university/college is WAY TOO HIGH. I mean here, I just passed Grade 12, applied for university and got admission, just like that. That is the reason my parents sent me to Canada, not cuz of anything else. Life in India is MUCH better than Canada if you've got a good job. I mean i've seen people here depressed 24/7 cuz they can't afford everything here. Bank loans are SOOO common here. I mean 95% of the students in university are taking loans from the bank just to pay for university. I mean, all the things that we have got in India, like a house or a car, people over here have to buy that same stuff by doing monthly payments. Very few people here can afford to pay for their house at once. So too much tension here. lol, and the houses here seem like servant quarters compared to houses in India.
Sure India might have 200 million people under poverty still but look at the billion people which aren't living under poverty.

Officer of Engineers

First,

Let me clarify a few things. Universities in Canada are subsidized. There is no way anyone can get a Bachelor's Degree on the small amount that Canadians actually pay.

2nd, 1st year university is the equalizer. Withe bewildering number of high schools with different budgets and different provincial requirements, there is no way for any university to know the baseline of students they're getting. 2nd year university is the determination who is actually qualified academically.

3rd, it's a damned Bachelor's degree. In other words, means absolutely nothing in the scheme of things. If anyone think that they're such hotshots with a minor academic achievement, then they have not seen the real world.

I had to get my Masters before I was even qualified for my promotion to Major.

So, Tronc has absolutely no idea about the Canadian Academic system. In truth, a large part of his education is subsidized by Canadian tax dollars, the ungrateful lout.

Lastly comparing Canadian to Indian standards of living is ludicrous. The majority of Canadians live with a frost line. Of course, our cities, houses, infrastructure are high when compared to India. We dig a 18 foot deep foundation not because every Canadian wants a basement but because so that the house don't move in the middle fo winter.

Tronic

You got me confused, what do you mean "high"??? The houses I have seen, when you walk in, the ceiling is only about 7 feet high. And the whole neighbourhood looks identical here. There's only been one area where I saw nice houses, "Woodbridge". And even there those houses look nothing compared to the upper class houses in India. I mean, the "lawn" in front of each house is so small. No one has huge gardens in front of their house. lol, One day I watched a lady watering a bunch of plants grouped together and she told me, she was watering her garden, lol.

And about the education system... I had to pay my ass off for the tution fee. I almost went broke when I first came. I mean the tution fee was around $25,000, To stay in the campus and for other stuff i had to pay around $8,000. And then they charge extra for medical. And thats only for one year.

Ok, I only said what I saw. If you think it's cheaper here, then thats just you. I'm not going to argue about it. I mean I have seen University students on medication because of the high levels of stress they have to go through.

I guess everyone has feelings for their country and if you think that life is better in Canada than I respect you for that. Maybe for you life in Canada is good cuz you grew up here but for me life in India suites me cuz I grew up there, and maybe just as I don't like to live here, you probably won't like to live there. So, I aint going to argue against you about it.

P.S. Also, when living standards are compared, India ends up MUCH MUCH lower than Canada and thats because the poor people in India are also accounted for. When comparing middle/upper class of the two countries the results will most likely be different.

Officer of Engineers

Associated costs are much higher than India's. India don't have to plow their streets and get rid of the snow in winter. Toronto doesn't count since it's one of the warmest cities in Canada.

Check the services also. Portable water, fire department, libraries, police, sewer, garbage, bus, roads (pot hole repairts), etc. India's population concentration allows her to spend money elsewhere wheras the relative dispursement of the Canadian population forces tax dollars and money to upkeep Lines of Communications with far more regularity and expense.

Again, apples to oranges comparison.

While foreign student fees are much higher than regular Canadians, it is by no means anywhere near comparable to the true cost of your education.


I've lived through some of the worst war zones on Earth. As bad as you think you've got it, it is by no means anywhere near what the Brigadier, the Capatain (Ray and Lemontree were members of the Indian Army) and I experienced.

I've met a grandmother who lost her entire family and her house has been reduced to one room and she could not be happier having Canadian soldiers visit her everyday and she cooked some of the best chicken soup I've ever tasted. She refuses to accept any money or food from us (we had to sneak them onto her door at night while she slept).

I've saw a little girl who cried because she ran out of paper on her school notebook and then her mother couldn't stop crying when I gave her my notepad.

I never seen kids so excited as when we made a delivery of crates of paper notebooks and pencils sent by Canadian school children.

Be thankful for what you have, son. That's the lesson those people taught me. Don't be miserable for what you don't have.

Julie

That's what I was trying to tell him.

It is not Canada or the Canadians' fault he is where he is. If it is anyone's fault, it is India's for not having what you need to stay there. Sacrifices are the strife of life Tronic.