The day the towers of New York came down, like many of us, I felt like a New Yorker. Following the example of those who are sensitive to the news, in the past, I have already felt Chechen, Rwandan, Afghan, Palestinian and, more recently, I feel deeply Ukrainian.
Posted yesterday at 4:00 p.m.
The sight of images of bloodbaths moves and revolts me. Discovering that lives are being taken for nothing revolts me. I am undeniably one of those vulnerable people who are challenged and upset by the news.
To alleviate my feeling of powerlessness, I contribute to the Red Cross fund while others, more inventive than me, fight this suffering in their own way.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR
Richard Lemay
This is the case, in particular, of a man whom I had the good fortune to meet recently. His name is Richard Lemay. He is a flight director for a Canadian airline. A few years ago, during the tragic events in Syria, he volunteered to fly the first refugee flight between Amman and Toronto. Over time, he carried out half a dozen similar humanitarian flights.
In addition to ensuring the day-to-day management of cabin service, Mr. Lemay took care of filling it with warm clothes, which his wife helped him collect, and a series of toys that his colleagues was kind enough to offer the children to make their crossing of the ocean more pleasant.
But Richard Lemay did not stop there. Thereafter, he embarked on a quest for Barbie dolls and toy cars. To help defuse the situation on his plane, with the consent of the NGO staff accompanying the young passengers, he organized a mock migration. So that all the children could take part in the exercise, he had two playgrounds installed in the aircraft. The boys had the task of using the small vehicles to pick up the girls in order to evacuate them to a small house filled with dolls symbolizing their new home. Toys that the children had the leisure, of course, to take with them after the flight.
Overwhelmed by the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine, and always eager to do his part, Richard designed a fleur-de-lys flag in the colors of Ukraine.
He also launched a campaign called “ Buy planes for Ukraine which raised funds for the benefit of Ukrainians.
Richard Lemay is one of those exceptional beings who reconcile us with humans. A man who fights with all his might to close the door to despair.
“For some people, he says, I’m a bit like Mother Teresa, priest or lady patroness. Personally, I find that it is fate that provokes me and at the same time gives me the satisfaction of living with a little more intensity. I run on emotion. I can’t resist the urge to dive right in when the opportunity to help arises. I must admit that my life has been full of those randomly stolen moments that mean that now, when I close my eyes, I don’t see anything but black! »