The Truckers Freedom Convoy – and the Grapes of Wrath

The Truckers Freedom Convoy – and the Grapes of Wrath

“What’s it to you?”

by Francis Christian, Francis Christian’s Essays
February 4, 2023

 

On the first anniversary of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, I must modify somewhat President Lincoln’s Gettysburg address and state quite unequivocally that “the world will continue to take note and long remember what Canadian Truckers did here, and it can never forget what they achieved here.” 

The Convoy has passed through the narrow confines of time and become immortal.

In John Steinbeck’s novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” (turned into a widely acclaimed film), two Truckers do an enormous good deed to an unsuspecting diner and store keeper. The very hard times of the great depression (the “Grapes of Wrath”) were of no consequence to the Truckers. With triumphant grace, humble nonchalance, they handsomely reimburse with several dollars, the bewildered store lady for giving two poor kids two nickel-worth of candy, for a penny.

Kris Kristofferson turned this beautiful story into a beautiful song, in which the store lady calls out to the Truckers as they leave – “hey you left too much money.” The Truckers tell her as they pick up their coats to leave, “what’s it to you?” 

Here’s what the Canadian Trucker’s Freedom Convoy was to us – a reason to hope again, a reason to believe in humanity again, a reason for millions of Canadians to show the world that tyranny has a defined lifespan and that peaceful civil disobedience can shake its fragile foundations.

It was all that and more to us!

In the frigid temperatures of a very cold Canadian winter, we lined the highways and stood with large maple leaf flags waving with a furious indignation at the terrible suffering that the totalitarian tyranny had inflicted upon our people. On the overpasses across the nation, the very young and the very old and every age in between leaned into the convoy with their flags, willing them forward on their mission of liberty.

It was all that and more to us!

Across the world and over the airwaves of new and dinosaur media the peaceful, powerful Freedom Convoy embarrassed and scared the hell out of our totalitarian Canadian politicians – one went into hiding (Trudeau) and within days of the Freedom Convoy reaching Ottawa, the other (O’Toole) was quickly voted out by his own party!

South of the longest land border in the world, our American cousins held their breath in awe, in admiration and in utter disbelief that the “polite” Canadian masses could rise in their millions in peaceful revolt and challenge a totalitarian tyranny. The roar of the Canadian bear was heard across the world and Trudeau’s fellow tyrants everywhere heard too – and trembled.

Almost exactly a year later, the dictator of the banana republic New Zealand (otherwise called its prime minister) has resigned. Four months ago, the blundering buffoon tyrant in Downing Street (Boris Johnson) was also told he had to go! Without a shot being fired, the Freedom Convoy has dethroned dictators and reminded the world that the sum total of reality is resolutely set against evil.

It was all that and more to us!

It was no accident that during and soon after the Convoy, the mandates started to fall. The science had not changed. The desire of the politicians, corporations, globalists, “experts” and health czars to control, manipulate, abuse and insult the population had not changed. These petty tyrants were made to change – forced to give way to the peaceful assault of a determined, tenacious civil disobedience movement.

The Freedom Convoy literally linked the hands of millions of Canadians and made them dance together; literally increased the hug rate exponentially in Ottawa; literally brought all shades, hues and sizes of Canadians together; and literally did more for French-English unity than decades of political polemics!

It was all that and more to us.

I wrote an essay a few weeks ago about why the Trucker is smarter – than the doctor, the scientist, the lawyer, the philosopher, the college professor, the politician and the bureaucrat!

The Truckers who constituted the Freedom Convoy also possessed that most elusive of all human virtues – humility.

I don’t believe any of the Freedom Convoy Truckers brought about what Mr. Carlson described as “The Single Most Successful Human Rights Protest In A Generation” for selfish reasons. Many of them even today, are unaware of the seismic nature of their collective, peaceful protest. The aftershocks of the earthquake they caused are being felt today in peoples homes, in the places they work and up and down the halls of tyranny – and will be felt long after this generation is gone.

They did what they did for humanity, for the oppressed, for freedom, for liberty, for human rights, for free speech, for our family, for our friends, for us all.

And they did all that with exemplary demonstration of the timeless words of Jesus who said we ought to do our good deeds with humility: “let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth.”

This is what the Truckers of the Freedom Convoy did. This is why, “great shall their reward be.”

 

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Cover image credits: Maksimsokolov, ΙΣΧΣΝΙΚΑ-888 (1), ΙΣΧΣΝΙΚΑ-888 (2)