NDP Participant

Yesterday morning, a participant at this year’s NDP parade collapsed and died during the rehearsal.

He was 47. That is sad in of itself.

But what surprised me was how it was reported.

There was no mention of his name, no details about him or his family, no interviews with anyone around him to note whether he felt unwell before he collapsed or said anything, why he wanted to participate in NDP, his health condition or the weather conditions at that time.

Of course the rehearsal continued, notwithstanding his untimely and unfortunate death, and everyone must have enjoyed the show later that evening.

But is this what we are about? The individual is irrelevant in the context of the bigger picture, a must have grand parade to showcase our “talents” before our VIPs and audience? Downplay the death and instead focus on how everyone had done their best to revive him after he collapsed?

In today’s weather conditions is it fair to ask people, including children, to spend hours out in the sun for months to rehearse for a perfect parade lasting 90 minutes? Is a parade still important in today’s world? Fostering patriotism is good but are there better ways than this? With increasing temperatures and humidity are outdoor parades and rehearsals still healthy? Most people are there to see only the fireworks anyway. Would watching fireworks instil patriotism?