Politics and Courage

"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." ~ Jack Layton (Letter to Canadians, August 20, 2011)

I am not a particularly political person. In fact, at times I am rather apolitical... or perhaps simply uninformed and a little disengaged from the bickering and bureaucracy that seems to plague so much of our political landscape. So I will admit that I was quite shocked at just how moved and saddened I was to learn of the death of Jack Layton.

I remember vividly watching the campaign and the force with which Jack Layton committed himself to the task before him. He showed unrelenting passion and commitment. And yet, there was a shadow... his hip, his cancer. But no one engaged with the shadow, for the light he shined was far more powerful. And the light won...

Then in June, he removed himself from the public eye... and in his final public appearance i felt a cold rush wash over me... i knew he gambled... he chose politics and he gave it all he had. He danced the dance and engaged without fear for what might be. He knew his calling and he stepped into the light.

Yet as he leaves us... not only from politics, but from this earth... I wonder if it is was all worth it. But how could it not be. One thing that cannot be taken from Jack Layton is his integrity... no matter what anyone might say about him, he lived and worked each day of his life with integrity and a strength of will second to none. He did this until his last breath. This is something to celebrate and to honour.

So let us hear his last words and truly embrace them into our hearts. For they are not the words of a politician running for office... they are the words of a man who believed in the future and fought for  his beliefs until his last breath bade him farewell. We truly can change the world... for we are the change itself. "Be the change you wish to see"... be the change!! Just be.