Accommodation

The Supreme Court has just ruled that the Sikh religious symbol, the kirpan, a ceremonial dagger, cannot be banned from the nation's schools. Basic religious freedoms trump security concerns.

I'm surprised, pleasantly, on a couple of scores here.

First of all, that at this point in post-9/11 time, the Court can make such a ruling. I think it speaks well of our confidence as a nation. We're not going to be cowed into putting paranoia over civility. We're not going to overreact. We're going to keep our perspective, remember who we are to one another, and focus on real threats -- not hermetically seal our culture off from any conceivable threat, smothering it to death in the attempt. I think this was the right decision.

...Which is the other thing that surprises me: that I think this is the right decision. When I was in my teens and early 20s, I would have been dead set against this decision. I would have seen it strictly as "I can't do that, why should he be able to?" But as I get older, I don't know... I'm less worried about absolute equality as practical equality. Now I can see the difference. This is something central to someone else's religious identity, not mine. For them, it's crucial. For me, it isn't. For them to carry a kirpan is a matter of who they are. For me, it would be nothing but a concealed weapon; there's no other reason for me to carry it. And now I can admit that those are not the same thing, not at all. I don't know when or how my attitude changed, but I do remember disagreeing with the ruling that let Sikhs wear turbans instead of hats in the RCMP. Now that seems small and petty to me.

I think Canada is a better place for this ruling. This was the right call.