The gratitude we feel is undiminished, and I only wish more people in Boston were taught about how, in a time of destruction and devastation, their city was a bastion of compassion and invaluable aid.
On December 6, 1917, a Norweigan relief ship and a French munitions ship collided in Halifax Harbour. The resulting explosion remained the largest man-made explosion until Hiroshima, and flattened a large part of Halifax and Dartmouth. Debris landed 5 kilometres away from the impact site, 10,000 people were wounded or killed, and approximately 30,000 people were left either homeless or without proper shelter and facilities.
And then the snow storm hit, burying the wreckage in 16 inches of snow.
With the city left in tatters, two days later having had to clear the rails to travel, Boston’s aid arrived– blankets, food, surgeons, nurses, and a fully-equipped base hospital. It was desperately needed and made all the difference in the world to a city in shock. It was the kind of unthinking kindness, an automatic response to neighbours hurting and in need, that restores faith in humanity.
And so we send a tree every year and this year the donors were Bill and Andrea MacEachern of Lorne, Pictou Co.
Mr. MacEachern competed in the Boston Marathon in 1996 on its 100th anniversary and placed in the top five per cent. The MacEacherns are donating their 15 metre (49 feet) white spruce that is about 72 years old.The article goes into more detail, but that’s the gist.
And so thank you.
And Merry Christmas.
(via roachpatrol)