The Humboldt Broncos Tragedy Brings A Country Together

Last week, a bus carrying the members of the Humboldt Saskatchewan Broncos hockey team collided with a semi. The result was horrific and with 17 fatalities and a number of other injuries. In a country famous for being a place where not much happens, this has to go down as one of the worst things in a long, long time. And it really hit a nerve right across the country.

This was a junior hockey team on the prairies. This was a group of young men who were on their way to play a game they were raised to love. A game that far and away defines our country for the world.

So these kids where were icons as well as human beings.

The outpouring of support, for their families, both in Canada and around the world, was off the charts. Mainly because there are very few families in our country who could not see, that for the grace of God, one of those fatalities could have been their kid.

Hell, even Donald Trump sent out a tweet of condolence that sounded almost human.

I watched the news stories all week.I saw how the country came together and shared the grief the parents of those Humboldt kids must have been feeling. I saw how donations poured in.Sometimes, it’s easy to detach yourself from a news story. Either because it’s too horrific or you you simply can’t relate to it somehow. But this story got to just about everybody in this country, and in many places around the world. And in a strange way, it showed just how unified a people we can be when the circumstance calls for it.

I spent the week taking all this in, but it wasn’t until yesterday and I saw a post by my friend on Kerr that I decided to write something. 

Don has two young boys and he posted this pic of a memorial that his guys put together to honour the kids who were killed in this tragic accident. -->

Thousands of Canadian families did the same, In fact, when I was coming back from the store last night I saw a kid walking along Lakeshore wearing a Humboldt Broncos jersey and carrying a miniature hockey stick.

Watching this outpouring of emotion all week long, I saw that, while this was a terrible tragedy, it was something that very much appears to have brought us all together at a time when our world feels like it’s all chopped up into little pieces by political and social turmoil.The grief all Canadians share over the loss of these kids has become a symbol. Hopefully it demonstrates that we are holding on tight to our humanity in a world that seems hell bent on taking it from us.

Let’s never forget those young guys. And let’s all keep our hearts and minds open and stay as human as we can.

Because, at the end of the day, our shared humanity is our strongest bond.

Jim Murray is an experienced advertising and marketing professional. He has run his own business (Onwords & Upwords), since 1989 after a 20 year career as a senior creative person in major Canadian & international advertising agencies. He is a communication strategist, writer, art director, broadcast producer, mildly opinionated op/ed blogger & beBee Brand Ambassador.

Jim lives in St Catharines Ontario and is a partner at
Bullet Proof Consulting. www.bulletproofconsulting.ca

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