I took a friend to my bank to exchange some dollars a while
back, because my bank has better exchange rates than his. He turned 354
American dollars into 345 Canadian dollars, just like that.
And what beautiful currency they have in Canada these days!
The twenty-dollar Canadian bills have a little clear plastic
window in them, along with the shiny metallic strips. Some of the bills have
pictures of Helen Mirren, or possibly Elizabeth II. The five-dollar bills have
images of a sport – either curling or hockey, I couldn’t tell which. (My friend
tells me that it’s curling, but he’s not Canadian, so how can he be sure?)
These are far more entertaining than our dull old American
greenbacks. I’ve folded a one-dollar bill into thirds and made George Washington’s
head into a mushroom too often; it just ain’t fun anymore. And
who cares what car’s represented on the ten-dollar bill? (I always thought
it was a Duesenberg, but
evidently I was wrong)
Why can’t we put Walt Whitman on our money, or Mark Twain,
or Edward MacDowell, or Leonard Bernstein? What about Humphrey Bogart, or
Artemus Ward? We put everything in creation on our postage stamps – flowers and
dragons and cartoon characters and movie stars. Why not on our money too?
Most countries celebrate their culture on their currency,
not just their political history. They put their writers and musicians on the
money. We don’t. I don’t think Americans like to be reminded that we have a
“culture.” We’re far too macho to have “culture.” On our money, we have only
Founding Fathers, Male Presidents like Wilson and Grant, and Miscellaneous Political
Figures, like Alexander Hamilton and Salmon Chase.
I vote for variety, and culture, and entertainment.
If the Canadians can do it, then surely we can do it too.
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