Exchanging ideas free of misconceptions can be rewarding.

A childhood friend drove in from North Carolina the other day. A few of the boys from "the hood" got together for the first time in years.

Our conversation was varied. Inevitably it landed on the issue of health given that the subject is in the news these days. One of my friends, never one to take a broad perspective on things, began hammering the American system with scant understanding on how it actually works. It was, I must admit, an embarrassing exhibition of excessive selective gibberish. But hey - we're friends.

He was, of course, attempting to school someone who has lived in the U.S. for the last 20 years and is familiar with both systems. The good man listened patiently to the comment and then proceeded to explain carefully and deliberately how it really works.

While a couple of us grasped the basic tenets, my friend refused to accept this and decreed it was a "stupid" system. He's one of those types who'd sooner take the advice and opinion of a stranger rather than from his own friends.

I looked at him and asked him if he was joking considering the shambles our public system is mired in. Then again, that is a typically Canadian thing to do. Rather than confront our own problems, our insecurities lead us to focus on our neighbours to the south.

Our view of the United States has become so skewed we barely recognize what we're saying anymore. We have taken all the negative aspects and taken them to be the overall truth and reality of a country.

We don't like it when Americans showcase their ignorance about us. So why do we do it too?

The biggest problem with Canadians commenting about the U.S. is that we see it through myopic Canadian lenses. We consistently fail to see or acknowledge that Americans have a different system and mentality from ours.

There was nothing complicated in what my friend from the United States said. There was, on the other hand, something entirely infantile in what the gentleman from Canada was trying to convey.