Strong and Free

By: Dan Gray

Canadians are generally a peace-loving, Kumbaya-singing, quiet-by-nature society. We have a carefree attitude that allows us to believe that no one would want to hurt us because who could really hate a Canadian? But now our innocence, our untouchability has been forever tarnished by the acts of a few individuals for reasons yet unknown.
I believe that being Canadian requires us as a nation to have the resilience to pick up and carry on. Being Canadian means when we have been sucker-punched we get back up, dust ourselves off and show the fortitude to move forward.
I believe the sacrifice that Cpl. Nathan Cirillo made at the foot of a comrade, whose name remains unknown, is yet another rallying call for a nation to gather from coast to coast. An opportunity to prove that no-matter how great the struggle, we will make it through by helping each other because that is what Canadians do.

Inside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, near where Cirillo was gunned down, is known to be the remains of a soldier who was killed at the battle of Vimy Ridge. That battle was the first time Canadians gathered from coast to coast to fight for a single goal. At the end of the day on April 17, 1917, Canadians had taken a ridge that was thought to be impenetrable. The cost was high, but it is acknowledged that this was a turning point in the creation of our nation.
Another opportunity to prove our worth as a nation was during D-Day. A still relatively small nation was chosen to secure a beach called Juno in a battle that would change the outcome of World War 2. In completing the task and being the country to move the furthest inland on that fateful day, we again were united as a nation for one goal.
Our nation doesn’t always need a victory on the battlefield to be drawn together for a singular purpose. Our ties to our military are strong, as is the love for hockey that runs in the blood. In 1972, ask any Canadian where they were when Paul Henderson scored the goal that beat the Russians. The same could be said again almost 30 years later when Sydney Crosby scored to win gold in Vancouver against the Americans.
Oct. 22 is now another date our nation’s resolve was tested. It will be a date written in history, a date when a terrorist attacked a soldier and then our centre of government. A date where our nation’s capital was gripped in fear and a nation stopped to watch. What I hope will also be written is what has happening in the few days since and how we have gathered from coast to coast again.

We are collectively confused, angry, sad and full of questions. Yet instead of turning on one another we are stopping to think of the grieving family of the fallen. We don’t ask, “what can we do to get through this?” The Canadian in us asks, “how can we help them?”
Since we don’t know them, can’t call them, text them, Facebook them or go to their home, we do the next best thing. At armouries and cenotaphs across this nation we lay wreaths and flowers in a silent gesture to say, as a nation, “we are here for you, sorry for your loss, you will never be forgotten.” We line the Highway of Heroes, on the overpasses and on the route to and from, to show the family we support them and we grieve with them. We rely on these moments to strengthen our resolve and move forward towards a single goal: healing.

Our country has suffered a blow. Our quiet-natured, peace-loving society has been shaken by the knowledge that we are not as safe as we thought. We will never be as naive a nation as we were before the actions that occurred this week but we will carry on, because that is what we do. We’ll go to the hockey rinks, the Tim Hortons and do the many things that make us Canadians. Our determination to show tenacity in this moment of terror is founded in part on a singular piece of knowledge – that men and women, comrades of Cirillo and the Unknown Soldier, are out there sacrificing to keep our nation glorious, strong and free. That’s the way I see it.