We’re fortunate to celebrate freedom
On July 1, our family decided to go to Fort Malden in Amherstburg to see the fireworks and celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday.
Everywhere, families packed in, sporting Canadian T-shirts and carrying Canadian flags. I even saw some Canadian tattoos.
At precisely 10 p.m., the fireworks began. I watched as all heads swivelled in that direction. I especially looked to the kids. They had that look of wonder as their eager eyes followed the flare upward anticipating an explosive surprise. They were rewarded with a boom and a shower of colour.
I could feel a slight pounding on my chest from the concussion of the explosion and for some reason, I thought about those families who daily are faced, not with fireworks to marvel at, but with bombs to run from. They don’t look up in wonder. They listen in terror.
They aren’t sitting, laughing with friends.
They are running for their very lives.
They don’t feel a mild boom, but rather, an explosion that shakes the earth and assaults the senses. There isn’t calm, only panic. There isn’t life, only death.
At the end of the fireworks, there was an applause of appreciation as the crowd gathered up their belongings and their children to head home, comforted by the assurance that their home would be as they left it.
In war, there are no such guarantees. Not only are lives lost but homes, as well. What little they had is gone. Now, what do they do?
We live in a country that enjoys peace and prosperity, that celebrates tolerance and diversity, and kindness to one another.
I thank our military and veterans who risk their lives so that we can be free. I wish more countries were like Canada so that their families could celebrate with fireworks of freedom without fear, too.