Centred
in a colour drawing is the stately CN Tower ~
pointing
proudly through a billow of white cloud into the pale blue sky.
At
the Tower's base are 6 red tulips on one side and 4 on the other
side, erectly blooming atop verdant-green lush leaves springing from
a base of yellow-centred lavender-toned flowers.
This
representive drawing by MacKay
of the Hamilton Spectator
needs no further explanation.
(Close your eyes and envision it)
This picture is worth more than a thousand words!
Weep for Toronto,
but then Stand With Its Citizens
April
23, 2018 will go down as one of the darkest days ~ perhaps the
darkest day
~ in the history of Toronto. Never in living memory, has Canada's
biggest metropolis experienced the horrific and indiscriminate
violence that hit from out of the blue on Monday, when the driver of
a rented van embarked on a 3-kilometre rampage along a sidewalk that
left 10 people dead and 15 others injured.
Words seem an inadequate response to something
so momentous, terrible and terrifying.
What can be said with certainty, however, is that this cruel attack
on people simply going about their daily lives will fill us all with
grief, shock, incomprehension and finally, resolve.
Sorrow comes first, and it is for the innocent lives lost and
damaged, for the searing pain felt by so many people and the pain
that will linger, not only with the survivors but their families and
friends.
We weep for them all.
Next comes the shock that this atrocity happened in Toronto, which by
any standard, is a vibrant, global city with a laudably low crime
rate. Toronto stands as a model of how a diverse, tolerant citezenry
lives, works, plays and thrives in harmony.
(The foregoing is The Hamilton Spectator's view.)
Erma Brombeck says there is a thin line that separates
laughter and pain...comedy and tragedy...humour and hurt.
Norman Cousins' encouragement: The tragedy of life is not death ~
but what we let die inside of us while we live.
Cartoonists
Capture Public Mood
Their work depicts sadness of events, outpouring of compassion.
Halifax
cartoonist
Michael de Adder says
he was simply trying to find
a
small bit of positivity
with
an image that has garnered national attention
for its depiction of recent tragedies in Toronto and Humboldt,
Saskatchewan.
The cartoon, published in the aftermath of Monday's van attack in
Toronto that killed 10 people and injured 14, shows 2 boys in hockey
sweaters sitting on a bench, sticks by their sides .
The boys, one wearing a green and yellow Humboldt Broncos jersey
and the other wearing a blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs sweater,
have their arms around one another, supportive in crisis.
“The
reality is, I'm just happy to perhaps, in a small way, add a little
bit of positivity in a very negative situation so that's all I'm
trying to accomplish with that cartoon,” de Adder said.
(Written by Keith Doucette ~ published in The Canadian Press)
Bruce
MacKinnon's
Humboldt cartoon ~
depicts the provinces and territories as a group of red-shirted
hockey players
coming to the aid of a green-shirted Saskatchewan player.
The slumped player has his arms around his closest neighbours ~
Manitoba and Alberta ~ who are supporting his weight.
“The
thing that stands out about the story, aside from the obvious
sadness, is the outpouring of compassion of Canadians,” he
said of his inspiration for the drawing.
(Bruce MacKinnon (cartoonist for the Halifax Chronicle Herald)
Canadians
Care!
Whether Humboldt, Saskatchewan or Toronto, Ontario,
we must all be STRONG for our fellow men who are severely injured or
killed.
A tweeted message re the Broncos expresses best ~ Canadian
sentiment!
It is hard to find a flag that isn't flying at half-mast in
Saskatchewan
as the province mourns the loss of 15 people
after the SJHL Humboldt Broncos' bus collided with a truck.
Sympathy, well-wishes and cash donations are pouring in to the
small community
from across the country and the world.
“God
bless Darcy Haugan for being an incredible mentor and coach
to young hockey players and prayers for all their families to cope
with
their immense loss,” the Western Hockey Association wrote on
Twitter.
Compiled by Merle Baird-Kerr...April 27, 2018
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