Slash the tires, empty the gas tanks . . . and then move the trucks?

Juliette Kayyem
@juliettekayyem
The convoy protest, applauded by right wing media as a "freedom protest," is an economic and security issue now. The Ambassador Bridge link constitutes 28% of annual trade movement between US and Canada. Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks ✔️

Our ruling class is made up of people who’ve never actually done anything and it shows.

Many years ago, I was with a crew of volunteers helping to clean up after Hurricane Hugo. There was no running water,no electricity, but destruction as far as the eye could see. The group of men I was with, were from many different States and backgrounds. We were clearing a road, using anything available to clear the mud and debris, wind blown pieces of vehicles, buildings, trees, and assorted dead things. It was late at night, working by the light of lanterns and vehicle lights to see the work area. At about 03:00, we decided to take a break and eat a meal. We had a cooler with some hot dogs and buns, some drinks and a few other necessities. We built a small campfire to cook the hotdogs and warm some water for coffee. Being miles from anywhere, we were surprised to see headlights carefully following the road we had cleared to this point. It was a plain car with GOV tags. The driver was well dressed man with polished shoes, nice jacket and tie. He began to shout at us and was spouting about regulations and code infractions. This went on for a few minutes before he wound down. I was receiving the brunt of this tirade, since I was closest to where he stood. I quietly said that we were not familiar with those codes, since most of us weren’t from this area; so could he put it in simpler words for me. He looked down his nose at me, and began a screaching again, about open fire, air pollution, and a few other things. Then he began demanding/ordering us to put out the fire. As he was waving his arms around and screaming at me, he didn’t notice that he had slowly become surrounded by the crew. His actions would be very well compared to the present day equivalent of a “Karen”. When he wound down again, I spoke to him quietly and said that if he had been a little more polite in his approach, I might have offered him a hot dog or something to drink. If he had approached us and struck up an adult conversation, we might have been able to understand each other and achieve a common goal, but he chose a different approach. I pointed out that he had very poor situational awareness. He then noticed being surrounded by men with different opinions that he had. As his face became pale, I pointed to a front end loader, and mused that it was very powerful and could probably dig a hole big enough to bury a car, in just a few minutes. I reminded him that all of us were from other States, and were here to help, but any of us could return home anytime and nobody would miss us or wonder why we left. And finally, I said that most of us were ex military and/or long experienced in Construction work. All of us have seen accidents and other unpleasant events. I then firmly suggested be get in his car and leave, because I was about to walk into the woods and take a little personal break. When I return, thinking of his safety, I would hate to find that he had suffered an accident or unpleasant event.
He abruptly left, we finished eating. One older machine operator made the most applied appt response to the situation, and it applies even more today.

“Some people just don’t know, that they don’t know.”

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