Like a lot of Canadians, Gord Downie and the Tragically Hip have been on my mind over the past few days. Downie, who was the lead singer and songwriter for the Hip, passed away on Tuesday night. He'd been diagnosed with the bad kind of brain tumour about two years earlier.
One of the Hip's biggest hits of the early 1990s was a song called Courage (for Hugh MacLennan). Like many Canadians my age, I would have absolutely no idea who Hugh MacLennan is but for this song – we aren't a strong historical country. It turned out that he's a pretty important cultural figure in Canada.