Letters_08-34

Jeff Green | Aug 28, 2008

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On August 23 I was honoured to be asked to sing at the funeral of a 22-year-old man. He was the victim of a talc mining accident.

Justin Franklin Rogers of Madoc was 600 feet underground when a rock shifted and the resulting rock slide buried him alive. He had only been working there for 6 weeks, but this was actually his third accident. What made him go back after the second or even the first accident? He had a dream. His dream was to become an O.P.P officer and in order to take that course he had to raise money for College. He also had a fianc whom he wanted to marry; they had been dating for three years and they felt that now was the time. So he continued to go back to work to fulfill his dreams.

My son Steven, who is a firefighter in Toronto, was involved in the propane explosion that took place there several weeks ago. When they took the call to attend the explosion it took dispatch 1 1/2 minutes to tell them of all the things that were on fire, and when they arrived he could not believe his eyes or any of his other senses. There were cars on fire all along the street, houses devastated and objects flying out of the plant every which way. When he went in there he said that it was easily the worst thing he had ever encountered in his 20-year career and he knew within his heart that tonight was the night that he was going to die. He told me that he thought of his wife and child and of his mom and knew how much we would all miss him! What makes him go back to work in spite of all this? Well, he has a dream. He feels that he can make a difference for good and he follows that dream.

Then there are the members of the police force who take their lives in their hands every time they have to go out on a call. They never know what is waiting for them as they often encounter extremely violent people.

And what about the soldiers whom we send away to fight a war overseas? They know what the risks are and yet they go, determined to make a difference! And what about the people we don't even know about? The single mothers who are raising their children, often without support and quite often on very low wages. Or the single fathers trying to be both mom and dad to their children? Every day anew they pick up their dreams or their burdens and fulfill them the best way they know how. Let us think of these people and give them our respect and support as needed. Each of them are our true heroes.

Ina Hunt Turner