My office is on the repatriation route for fallen Canadian soldiers. Every so often (though thankfully, not THAT often), they shut down the whole street so that the motorcade can make its way uninterrupted to the coroner’s office… not a small feat, considering that it’s a major street and they usually come through during rush hour.
On my way home today, I stood on the corner and watched three hearses go by with numbers 98, 99 and 100.
I know most of us would rather pretend that there’s no war, and would rather not have to see proof that three young men who died far from home last Friday. I know no one is happy about the fact that we’ve lost 100 promising young men and women to a war we’d rather not have fought in the first place. (and yes, I know that this is peanuts compared to the US losses… but each life lost is still one too many)
But what makes me incredibly unhappy today is that some selfish twats around me felt it was inappropriate to make them wait 10 minutes before they could cross the street. Because, clearly, their time was so valuable that the motorcade should stop to let them by, rather than the other way around.
A hearty fuck you to those ignorant twats who felt that 10 minutes of their time was more valuable than the sacrifices made by those soldiers and their families, regardless of how they might feel about the war. I hope your disrespect is paid back, with interest, when your time comes.
For one, it was a majornewsstorytoday, since this latest group of casualties bring the death toll in Afghanistan to 100. (most of the links now include full accounts of the repatriation ceremony, since the press have had time to file the full story, but earlier today the sites all had a short article similar to the first one I linked)
And while I can’t speak for people on other corners, there were several people standing on my corner who specifically made it out to pay their respects, and who were letting people know the score.
I suppose people don’t read the news and prefer to live in a bubble of ignorance, but if three police cars come whipping up with their lights flashing, block off traffic, and a cop jumps out yelling at you to stay off the street, you might just want to listen anyway… no?
Is there any particular reason they block off the streets during rush hour? I mean, once you’re dead and have made it back from another continent, what’s another hour getting to the coroner’s office?
It just seems like it would be so much easier on everyone involved to do it when the streets aren’t so busy and there aren’t so many people who, unlike the soldiers in question, still have things to do and places to be trying to get to those places and do those things.
What, because I don’t see the point in making life harder than it really needs to be? Trying to drag a motorcade through rush hour traffic isn’t just harder on the people trying to get to/from work–it’s harder on the people doing the motorcade, and I’m not really seeing the benefit to not waiting an hour or so. It’s not like the soldiers are in any rush. They’re dead–another couple hours won’t make them any deader, and making the motorcade a bigger clusterfuck won’t make them any less dead or their death any less tragic.
If 10 minutes is nothing in the course of a day or a lifetime, how much is an hour in the course of eternity?
That’s probably it. So that those who feel it is important to pay their respects, can do so without having to crowd the funeral, so the family has privacy to mourn.
I was listening to CBC radio this morning and there was an interview with a man who went out for the repatriation journey every time he could, even though he didn’t know any of the soldiers personally. I hope that in some very tiny way makes up for the asses who can’t take 10 minutes of their day for someone who died because Canada asked if they would serve, and they said ‘yes’.
It saddens me to think that most people would think, “Whew, glad I got through downtown before THAT clusterfuck” instead of “Wow, what a tragic loss of life.”
My hub is retired military and served 18 months in Afghanistan so maybe I’m just more sensitive to the loss of any nation’s military.
I am a pacifist and I don’t know anyone currently in the military.
But for the passing of the corpses of three who gave their lives in service, I would think that it would be the least anyone could do to come to a full stop for ten minutes and be a little grateful or respectful or thoughtful.
What else would you be doing with those ten minutes you save? You get home ten minutes early and…? Or you get to work ten minutes early and…?
If you have trouble stopping for ten minutes, here’s your number; get in line for your ulcers, hypertension, strokes and heart attacks. Keep it moving…Keep it moving…
There is a point! They may be dead and time does not matter to them. But time does matter to us. If we can not give up 10 minutes of our valuable time to admit to their families and fellow men in arms that they have given up one of the most valuable things in the world: then we are not valuable and are useless.
To the families who have lost members while in uniform I am one who will not forget!
Or you get to work on time, rather than five minutes late? How is it so hard for people to understand that people might have more important things to do than be delayed for ten minutes as a symbolic gesture?
I don’t see what that has to do with anything. A memorial service which occurs in the early morning of a public holiday isn’t going to be as disruptive as shutting down a major road during rush hour.
Good lord, people. I’m a veteran and I’m with CrazyCatLady here. It’s a purely symbolic gesture (as has been mentioned) and there are countless war memorials throughout the world to pay respect for those fallen in times of war. How many of these do we need? I prefer the government respectfully keep their wars out of my face as much as possible and let me pay my respects to the dead in my own way. Being held up in rush hour traffic isn’t anyone’s preferred method, I can assure you.
Also, the guilt trips that some of you are trying to inflict on others here is just as despicable as the acts you’re condemning. Who the hell are you to tell people how they should grieve? “Is your 10 minutes more important than the sacrifices they made?” SHUT THE FUCK UP.
