MAKING YOUR MILES COUNT Robert D. Scheper
Our Reputation is Our Choice One of the top 5 events of my life was being in Ottawa from January 28th to Feb 3rd. My opinions, hopefully, on the Freedom Convoy 2022, are not political but observational. Though my wife and I used to drive truck for many years, I’m not a huge fan of traveling. I’m a home body. Additionally, I am not a fan of large crowds. In fact, I get rather claustrophobic rubbing shoulder to shoulder with too many people. I could probably get over this but I’m too cheap to pay for therapy. I also tend to be a general cynic about everyone, thinking people always have an ulterior motive. I’m also a slow decision maker and I try to have my ducks in a row before I do any quacking. I’m also a busy guy and I didn’t want to open a new can of worms… I have several cans of worms still unorganized on my desk. It’s hard to tell sometimes which worm came from which can (have I used enough analogies?). That said, I believe that being a cynic is generally a good muscle to exercise. Simply put, when I heard about the Freedom Convoy, I did not want to go to Ottawa - I wanted to stay at home. I had too many things unfinished and too little time to be ‘curious’ about what might happen politically. On Tuesday, January 25th I gathered a team around me for an emergency meeting. After stating that I didn’t want to go to Ottawa, I made the error of asking the team (by a show of hands) who thought that I should attend. Seven out of seven said I should go. Even though I’m the President, I didn’t 14 • OVER THE ROAD
feel comfortable saying “it’s my way or the highway” … I’m not a Prime Minister; I’m only an owner and President. So, my close friend and I left for Ottawa early Thursday morning (January 27th). By the time the convoy passed Winnipeg (January 26th), it had gathered considerable momentum. A shirtless guy stood out of the top of his moving SUV, holding a freedom sign (his girlfriend driving). Now at 30 below zero, that’s PASSION. The enthusiasm had only begun. Sault Ste. Marie was lined with thousands of supporters at 10 pm, blasting horns and sirens and then again at 6 am the next morning with the temperature at 32 degrees below zero. This passion continued all the way to Ottawa; people showing up at (all the) small towns and at hundreds of roads/streets along HWY 17. The flags, signs and honking never stopped. To best describe in a few short words the Freedom Convoy and what was happening in Ottawa, there is a stark difference between what the media portrayed the event as… and what it really was/is. I have never seen or been in, such a diverse and crowded place and yet felt so accepted and safe (and I was at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary with Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team). I have never mistrusted the traditional media as much as I do now. If a newspaper now says the sky is blue and the grass is green, and I need to know what color they are, I will take a pad of paper with a pencil, go outside, look up (at a blue sky), then look down at my feet FEBRUARY 2022
