Aug

The Highway of Heroes

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13
As our family was in the final stretch of the drive home from vacation, we happened to be on the stretch of the 401 between Trenton and Toronto, now to be renamed the Highway of Heroes, in honor of our war dead in Afghanistan. As it turned out, we were not far from the vehicles transferring the bodies of the latest fallen soldiers from Trenton to Toronto, and I was incredibly moved by what I saw: with one possible exception, every bridge and overpass was occupied by other soldiers, veterans, firefighters, ambulance and other emergency workers, police from various forces, and lastly, throngs of ordinary Canadians, waving flags, and displaying signs such as “Merci” and “Thank-you”, as they gathered to honour our fallen war hero’s. Here are a couple of pictures I was able to take with my cellphone camera. Sorry for the bad quality.

Overpass 1

Overpass 2

I am deeply ambivalent about Canada’s presence in Afghanistan, but I firmly believe that one can support our troops, without having to buy into a specific political agenda, no matter what some politicians might say. To see so many people turning out to show support, over such a long road, was an experience that I, and certainly many others on the road at the same time, will never forget. I hope that it is repeated as seldom as possible.

As it turns out, I had been working on a song about our war dead in Afghanistan, and this morning, when it wasn’t my turn to drive, I wrote the following verse for the song. I think I will end this entry with that verse:

On the Highway of Heroes,
Trenton to Toronto,
All too often we see
the sad convoy appear.
But on bridge and on overpass
honour is given:
the snap of salutes, applause, and proud tears.

Tags: Canada, Afghanistan