“We think you’re pretty great, America!”

The Garden Collective is a Toronto-based creative agency who, by direct observation, figured out that America seriously needed some large-scale grassroots encouragement. But how, they asked themselves, is it possible to turn Americans’ heads en masse away from the crevasse of doom and gloom doled out ceaselessly by the media?

A Hashtag-followers campaign, they agreed. The movement they’ve aptly called #TellAmericaItsGreat. The Garden video that follows is a compilation of tweets from ordinary Canadians to average Americans. I admit it’s sappy. But darn it, I think America needs some up-lifting between the depressing crap!  It’s good to know we’re doing some things right.

“The list of America’s positive influence and impact was impressive and when you stop to consider it, you start to realize just how much good they bring to our everyday lives.”

“At The Garden, we pride ourselves on being a group of good people; the kind of people you can count on to be there for a friend or neighbour in need, regardless of any differences that may exist. That’s why, as we witnessed the challenges our friends to the south have been facing, we felt compelled to do something.

It’s no secret that America is going through a hard time right now. The election has exposed some pretty scary realities that will likely challenge them for years to come, regardless of who’s elected. They’ve been bombarded with a tremendous amount of negativity and it’s likely that for many of them, the immediate future seems rather bleak.

With that, it occurred to us that America could probably use a little cheering up. That’s why we created the “Tell America it’s great” campaign. As their closest friends and neighbours, we thought it was important for us to do something to cut through the negativity and help remind them that no matter how bad things might seem, there are a lot of reasons to believe that America is still pretty great.

As we set out, we weren’t exactly sure how people would react. After all, America is far from perfect, and one of Canada’s favourite pastimes is pointing out those imperfections. But while we definitely had some who declined to share, we were pleasantly surprised by the large number of people who wanted to.

And man did they share. From music, movies and sports, to innovations in science and technology, space travel and medicine, to food, culture and even retail stores and social media platforms. The list of America’s positive influence and impact was impressive and when you stop to consider it, you start to realize just how much good they bring to our everyday lives.

In the end, the best part of this whole journey so far, has been discovering all of the amazing things about America that we ourselves either didn’t know or hadn’t considered. In fact, we bet that if you take just a few minutes to think about it, you’ll have a list of your own in no time.

If you do, we hope you’ll share it. Because with all the bad stuff being thrown around out there, we feel like we could all use a little positivity right about now.

#tellamericaitsgreat  Thanks, Canada!

Today is National Stress Awareness Day. Yup! November 4th is the one day of the year you’re officially given an entire day NOT to stress. Perfect, right? There are four days between now and election day (OMG! 4 days??) You’re all wound up, aren’t you? Maybe you’ve busted through your data plan again? Maybe you’re thinkin’, What the Heck, RedState! Where’s the NEW News! I need NEW news! Polls! Where are the NEW polls! I need NEW polls!

Maybe you step away from the laptop for an hour or two. Stretch a leg. Grab the leash and walk the dog. Pet the cat. Brush your hair. Interact with people other than the jerks on tv. Breathe deeply. Eat a banana. Eat a cookie. Pray. Bathe “/ It’s all good. Everything will be where you left it.

Welcome, RedStaters, to the WaterCooler! It’s RedState’s only daily open thread. The space provided below is for your enjoyment – and mine 😉 You guys can be freakin’ funny! What’s going on this weekend? Baseball’s over for the season. Football? Reading a good book? Politics is an easy topic. What else ya’ got?