It was at that time Canada abolished the death penalty

There was a time that our hearts would leap at the cry of the voice of Humanity. Closer to my home, in prison that is, I can see the end of public compassion. Just 25 years ago Claire Culhane would speak out against the dehumanizing of prisoners and demand that we, the public, actually see them. Work to accept them, and accept the concept of rehabilitation, to embrace the idea of prisoners coming back into society as people.

It was at that time Canada abolished the death penalty (1977). While there were many good arguments why they should, the bottom line was that we would rather have to live with more guys in prison, than accept the possibility of somehow, just maybe killing that one prisoner who was innocent. Canadians had too much respect and compassion towards humanity to allow for the possibility of executing an innocent person, so it was abolished. Now, just a quarter century later, during the last federal election, I read in some of the “Party Platforms” that they want to bring the death sentence back. Seems they just can’t stand paying taxes to house all those prisoners. Society has become more concerned with what you can do for me, than with what I can do for you.

Remember when families left their front doors unlocked? Children played in the street blissfully unaware of the evils man is capable of. I remember “block parties” where all the families on a street got together for a BBQ and games, fun and love. It was because Bill knew Tom, and John, and Jeff. But more important than just knowing the names of your neighbors, people were friends with their neighbors. There was a connection to the lives of the people around them. Seems like now the only notice we take of our neighbors is to see if my car is better than his.

Last fall CBC ran a series called “The Greatest Canadian” and we, the public, picked who we wanted, and then voted on the final 10. As I sat and watched the cases made for which of these 10 was the one, the Greatest, person to represent what Canada is I saw a startling trend. While all the people in the top 10 accomplished many great and wonderful things, what became apparent was that every single person showed an amazing capacity for Compassion, lived with and in Humility, and was unbelievably Tenacious in whatever they tackled. Quite simply, they loved humanity and desired to better it in whatever way they could. The argument became, they simply were Canadian. Period. End of story.

For me I had my favorite, Terry Fox. All 10 are great, but Terry tips the scale for me. Maybe it’s the BC connection, I don’t know. I read an article written by Terry’s brother. He had wanted to experience a marathon, know just a taste of what Terry did.