Thanksgiving message from father who lost son and stepson in car accidents
On a weekend when Canadian families gather to give thanks, Greg Drew will contemplate unimaginable loss: both his son and his stepson were killed in car accidents 12 years apart.
Jason Drew was 17 when his car crashed on a Langley road in May 2003. Evan Archibald was 22 when a jeep ran into the bus stop where he was standing this week.
Greg Drew has these Thanksgiving messages for Canadians: drivers — slow down; parents — be thankful for your children; and strangers — start caring.
It starts with a hello.
When I lost Jay, people didn't know what to say.
They would play hide and seek in a store like you weren't there. They just didn't know what to say, and so they didn't say anything.
They avoid you because they don't want to be that trigger that's going to set off the emotions for them.
It's every time that you meet somebody for the first time after a tragedy that those emotions are there at the forefront. There's no word in the English language to describe a parent who has lost a child.
Evan was a nice young man getting his life on track, just headed off to work, minding his own business and he didn't even know what hit him.
We're still in a state of shock
The driver of the jeep that hit Archibald was 17, the same age as Jason Drew was when he died behind the wheel of a vehicle his father says was also very powerful and fast.
It doesn't need to happen.
I think if we all slow down a little bit, especially in the fall weather. The seasons are changing, and the leaves are falling, the roads are going to get even slicker.
Everything that's happening out there is preventable right now and we have to do our share to make the roads safer for everybody.
Be thankful for what you have. Take a step back and think about the family and the people in your lives and maybe the family members that you haven't spoken to for weeks, months or maybe a year. Maybe there's been a grudge or something like that that has pushed you apart.
Reach out towards one another and be there for everybody. If we treated each other with a lot more respect, it would be a heck of a lot nicer place to live.
Don't judge people: you've never walked a mile in their shoes. You may not want to walk a mile in somebody's shoes one day, because I'll tell you what — my shoes are so full right now they feel like 10,000 pounds.
My goal isn't very big, It's just to touch one person. I hope I can get somebody that's sitting in a vehicle to just slow down, back off a little bit, put the phone away.
