Mourning a fallen soldier

It was early morning on Wednesday January 12 and the daily 9 to 5 routine was just beginning anew. It was also the day that a ''shoeless'' (why newsbits caught this name I don't know - but it could have justified such a dangerous man as homeless or ''unstable'' therefore also making the story that much more glamorous) man stole a snow plow and then continued to drive it erratically from Dundas and Parliament. The large vehicle, along with the ''shoeless'' man, eventually crashed into a garbage truck and ended its plow through the streets at Humberside Avenue and Keele Street.

Det. Constable William Hancox

Sgt. Ryan Russell succumbed to injuries the day after in the same hospital that the suspect was taken to (after police shot him down).  A ceremony was offered on Tuesday January 18 for the officer. The march was a sight to see. A procession of Toronto police officers, and as news reports ''officers from America'', walking down the main roads and ending up downtown at the Toronto Metro Convention Centre.

And all this public show was necessary? What I fail to see is the necessity of having such a public ceremony. How many other officers have fallen in Toronto - yet never honoured with the same? Constable Todd was killed in gunfire during a walk-through for illegal drugs.  In 1998, Detective Constable Bill Hancox was stabbed while grabbing something to eat. Yet, I have no recollection of any ceremony for their honourable deaths as big as this one. Hancox served 9 years while Russell had served 11. Was there a significance to this funeral procession that I fail to grasp or is Toronto turning another ''bread and circuses'' on us?

Sgt. Ryan Russells and wife.

It serves to highlight how we can celebrate or mourn some things and really just ignore the rest.  Of how many officers that died on duty have we mourned; of how many men and women who had fought our wars been appreciated (not saying war of any kind is alright); of how many firefighters, doctors, etc have done the same...but have never had a public ceremony? We should wake up and realise that Russels is not the first and will not be the last. It is a pity that we only cry for those who have a show put up for them.