Tina Norris Fields
tinanfields at torchlake.com
Thu Sep 1 09:56:13 CDT 2011
Arthur, Thank you for sharing this. A great man, indeed! T Tina Norris Fields tinanfields at torchlake.com 231-322-2787 On 8/27/2011 3:08 PM, Arthur Fuller wrote: > This week, a man died of cancer in Canada. His name was Jack Layton. He was > Leader of the Opposition in parliament, head of the New Democratic Party, > and a galvanizing force in Canadian politics and political life. About 30 > years ago, when Jack was a City Councillor in Toronto, I wrote the first > version of his campaign-management software, later to be shared with Olivia > Chow, who would soon become his wife. In step with his successes, we went on > to develop several subsequent versions. Each time the software got better, > and I like to think that it played some small part in his success. > > Jack is the first person in Canadian history who is not a prime minister or > cabinet minister to be given a state funeral. It's occurring as I write > this. He has so many achievements that it's hard to know where to begin. He > was the first to embrace gay rights, green city culture, he invented the > White Ribbon HIV-AIDS campaign. campaigned for bicycle-culture (he rode his > bicycle to work even in the dead of winter; I remember him saying that if > you dress for it, you can bicycle even in Toronto winters). He was > tri-lingual (he was born in Quebec and so learned English and French when he > was young, and later on learned Cantonese from his wife Olivia Chow). He had > several remarkable and unique characteristics, notable among them his > open-door policy. I know this because I was frequently there working on his > computer, adding reports etc. while people walked in and told him of their > problems and complaints -- and he acted on them. > > In this week of his death, it is astonishing how many thousands of people > are weeping openly at his loss. Even those who don't share his political > views are weeping. One thing everyone of every political stripe can say is > that Jack never argued ad hominem (against the man), but always stuck to the > issues: poverty, homelessness, gay rights, green economics. > > Such was his measure that even the prime minister of Australia flew halfway > around the world to attend Jack's funeral == not to mention thousands of > Torontonians and others who came to pay their respects and honour a man. > > Rest in peace, Jack. You will be missed by Canadians of every political > stripe. > > Arthur > _______________________________________________ > dba-Tech mailing list > dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com >