Consistent effort is important to change. Habits aren’t really habits without that.

Progress is a consequence of that, and it’s a lot less consistent. You try and fail and find new and better ways of getting progress for the effort you put in.

The key is that progress doesn’t come without effort. Sometimes it doesn’t come with effort, but never without. And that’s ok. Progress is not as predictable.

Lots of prejudice and profiling around, but race as an in/outgroup dynamic isn’t really the entire story. I think the main thrust of the difference between Canada and the States is how we refer to ourselves. There is rarely if ever anyone identifying as a hyphenated descriptor.

There are African-Americans, who actually may not be African, but there aren’t African-Canadians. But we do have people here who identify as black, or more often as a nationality (Jamaican, Ugandan, what have you). Canadians are not as nationalistic, and the idea is that we should treat people the same regardless of citizenship.

There is no general expectation of “being Canadian” other than following the law and treating others right, at least in big cities. We have sober Muslims praying the same day that the Irish celebrate St. Paddy’s with alcohol flowing. And for the most part, for most level-headed people, there’s not any unreasonable push to live a certain way.

It’s a different mentality. So long as we can decide to get along, we can get along. It doesn’t mean there’s no prejudice, but it do notice fewer stereotypes and much more nuance in conversation about it. People decide for themselves whether they want to identify as Canadian. But almost nobody identifies as Canadian to the exclusion of all else.

We do have our wackos that are nationalistic and see Canada as sharing a reactionary version of American culture. Lots of them drove their trucks to Ottawa not so long ago. Outside of Canada Day and Remembrance Day, seeing a large crowd of people with Canadian flags is unusual and a sure sign of backwards thinking.