A Day When Beliefs Collide

This is one of those days.

It started easily enough, a planned trip to Hanover to pick up a couple of computers and then home while MamaIndi started painting the J.G.’s bedroom.

Just before I left I heard the news – Jack Layton, leader of the Opposition in Canada, had passed away overnight, aged 61.

To anyone outside Canada this would hardly be a world shattering event, but here we have just been through a national election where Mr. Layton had brought his party, on his back literally, out of the wilderness to form the opposition. Kind of like if the Democrats had only 3 seats in Congress before Barack Obama ran.

Layton was a populist, the kind of person you could respect on the issues and know that if you invited him to dinner he would want to help wash up afterwards.

So today, across Canada, there is a lot of collective pain as people come to grips with this shocking news. Even knowing of the unbelievable medical issues he has been carrying for the last few months and knowing that he is no longer in pain does little to dampen the sense of loss.

It was a day when I had to look up into the clouds with misty eyes and ask Sky Father, “What were you thinking? – we NEED this man!”.

Good people die. It happens. We hate it. We grieve and get angry. Sky Father knows that, just as Jack did when he penned his last letter to Canadians.

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.

All my very best,
Jack Layton”

We may be angry but it is our beliefs that will sustain us, even if they collide with life from time to time.

Brightest Blessings and Peaceful Journey, Jack!

Kwee