Skip to content

Letter: 7 p.m. frontline worker cheer is offensive to my sensibilities

What began in the West End has encompassed the Lower Mainland, including the Tri-Cities — and this letter writer thinks the cheer is misplaced.
JOHV12554661.jpg
Reverend Gary Paterson, right, and his partner Tim Stevenson clap and beat on a pot with a wooden spoon as part of a tribute to health care workers in Vancouver, B.C. Tuesday, March 24, 2020. Thousands of people in Vancouver's west end have been going out on their balconies to applaud the front line heath care workers each night at 7pm. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The 7 p.m. healthcare appreciation cheer is well intended but has gotten out of hand.

There are better ways to show our appreciation for our frontline healthcare workers. What started as a one-minute cheer in my residential neighbourhood — nowhere near a hospital by the way — has turned into a 30 minute circus/parade of cars with horns blaring, people marching and cheering, some with flags or musical instruments. 

These are scary times and I have already lost family in the U.S. due to the virus. To see the celebratory moods at 7 p.m. is offensive to my sensibilities. Surely, there must be a better way to show our appreciation to our frontline healthcare workers. 

Please stop the circus. There is nothing to celebrate here. But should you wish to show your appreciation, please make a donation to your local hospital and bring the peace back to my neighbourhood.

L. Sharp, Port Coquitlam