People are talking about a tweet posted by Jon Reyes, a political leader in Manitoba, Canada.
On the morning of January 8, Cynthia Reyes had just come home from working for 12 hours overnight. She is a registered nurse at Health Sciences Centre, a hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was an extremely cold night, with temperatures around -25 degrees Celsius (about -13 Fahrenheit).
She decided she wanted to shovel the driveway. So she did.
Her husband, Jon, who is an MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly), was inside their home. He took a photo of Cynthia shovelling and posted it on Twitter. He added what he felt was an appreciative caption saying how amazing she is and that he intended to make her breakfast.
He tweeted: “Even after a 12 hour shift at the hospital last night, my wife still has the energy to shovel the driveway. God bless her and all our frontliners. Time to make her some breakfast.”
More than 15,500 people retweeted the photo, adding their own often hilarious thoughts about the situation.
Most commenters expressed outrage that Reyes hadn’t gone outside and shovelled the driveway himself rather than watch her do it from inside their warm home.
One commenter, @RobWitwer, tweeted, “Note to my sons: If you see your wife shoveling snow after a 12 hour shift, don’t just stand there and tweet about it – get yourself a … shovel and help her out (better yet, have it cleared before she gets home).”
And @RaineyOvalle tweeted, “So what you’re saying is, you had 12 hours.”
Many of the people who retweeted the post made funny comments, such as @Mattythehammer, who tweeted, “Do you think he went out on his balcony and banged pots and pans in appreciation of her service?” That refers to the many people who have thanked frontline workers by banging pots in the evenings to let them know they’re appreciated.
And @mrfeelswildride tweeted that “this person is attempting to forge world peace by making everyone in the entire world mad at him”
But perhaps the most relevant reply on Twitter came from Cynthia Reyes herself (@CynBReyes204). She tweeted, “All I wanted to do was shovel!” She added a face-palm emoji. (A face-palm emoji is a lighthearted way of showing that someone is frustrated.)
Note: Twitter is not intended to be used or viewed by young people. Many of the comments on Twitter are inappropriate, including many of the ones in this Twitter thread. Young people should rely on guidance from a trusted adult before looking at live social media feeds, including Twitter.
THINK & DISCUSS
What do you think? Was the tweet okay–or inappropriate?
Did your thoughts about Jon Reyes’ tweet change after you read Cynthia Reyes’ tweet?
What would you say to Jon Reyes if you could advise him?
Do you think people’s interest in Jon Reyes’ tweet was affected by the fact that he holds a prominent government position?
Jon Reyes kept the tweet posted, even though he could have deleted it. Why do you think he did that?
Who is this story mostly about: Jon Reyes or Cynthia Reyes?
Some of the news articles that have been published about this event refer to “Jon Reyes’ wife” rather than naming Cynthia Reyes at the beginning or describing what her job is. Do you think that is okay or is there a problem with that? Why?
Did you get the joke in the funny tweets? Explain what they mean.
RELATED LINKS
Pop media website TMZ picked up the story: https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/09/canadian-politician-watches-wife-shovel-snow-hospital-frontline/
CTV News article: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/manitoba-politician-drawing-criticism-for-tweet-showing-his-wife-shovelling-snow-after-working-a-12-hour-hospital-shift-1.5733362
CBC News article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/jon-reyes-manitoba-tweet-shovel-1.6308969
Jon Reyes’ website: https://www.jonreyes.ca/
Jon Reyes is an MLA. Here’s an explainer about what that is and what his job entails: https://www.gov.mb.ca/legislature/members/index.html
