I've been up all night feeling physically sick about what’s going on in my hometown.
I’m not one to post political things on Facebook. I’m really worried about the direction our society is heading in recent years, and I have strong political opinions, but I try to talk about it in my face-to-face life and not online.
But last night, I watched vehicles parking on the grounds of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I saw people defacing the statue of Terry Fox. I learned that "protesters” were intimidating people at the Shepherd’s of Good Hope and that staff felt so uncomfortable that they gave up food intended for the city’s most vulnerable. They didn’t know how else to make them leave.
These days are hard as hell. I get it. I understand that people are at their wit's end. I disagree that public health measures should be lifted yet, but I feel the frustration and I acknowledge that there is value in debate.
But I also know that a good number of protesters don’t support the bigoted, reckless measures that some of this group are taking. And I am deeply disturbed at the silence I’m witnessing from them.
Some of you- friends of mine- family- have posted videos with heartfelt music playing while lines of trucks drive into our city, likening them to soldiers heading off to war. I’ve seen memes of truckers driving through parted waters, like Moses leading the exodus through the Red Sea. But I haven’t seen many posts from those same friends and family members condemning what is currently happening in Ottawa.
Like it or not- your wagon has been hitched to these would-be vigilantes who are holding *your* flag. They’re claiming to yell freedom in *your* name. So while I love you and I know you to be good, decent people, I desperately need to hear your voices telling them to stop. Say that they don’t represent you. Because until that happens -until you make it clear that these people don’t speak for you-
I’m afraid that they do.