When Politics Comes Second
With two weeks to go in this present parliamentary session, the news cycle is fully taken up with stories on a possible immediate election, various scandals and views on Stephane Dion’s carbon shift. My Blackberry received messages and calls all weekend, as if somethings were about to take place.
But today I put all that aside. This afternoon my wife Jane received the Medal of Distinction from Huron College, recognizing her two decades of work in Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda and of course the London Food Bank. I sat down with our three children from Sudan this morning and explained to them just how special their Mom and her accomplishments really were. I talked about her efforts feeding tens of thousands of people both here in Canada and overseas and of how she moved into conflict zones over the years and left an indelible impression in every region she touched.
Naturally enough I told them of how through her determined efforts she had freed thousands of people – mostly women and children – from slavery in Sudan. They know all this, of course, but in many ways I was saying such things because I couldn’t help but talk about it – I was bursting with pride at her accomplishments. And they know of their fortune. Two mothers. One from Africa who lost her life to save them from a miserable past and another mother from Canada who risked her life for their future.
After receiving the award this afternoon, Jane gave a moving speech, spiced with humor, about how average people could make such a marked difference in this often troubled world. And she was fully right … we all sensed it. One woman had opted to make a difference in the lives of others and there wasn’t a single person there who couldn’t feel the possibilities even for themselves.
This is just my attempt to make the record clear about my own political life. In all that I have attempted there has been this intrinsic sense that I am participating in a partnership that transcends all I believed possible. We politicians often fret over the fact that our families occupy a far larger place in our lives than people wish to acknowledge. For many of us this month will be a time of graduation and convocation and we will stew over times lost with our children and spouses as we strive in Ottawa over the public good. This is not only a time for those who graduate, but also for those in the political arena who have sacrificed precious moments in order to make government meaningful. It often goes unrecognized yet it is true and full congratulations go to all those politicians in every political party who have felt the flush of family accomplishment in these weeks. Respect is due them.
And to my wife I can only say that she knows full and well that politics will never displace her in my life. But more than that, her accomplishments today only make me strive to be a better public servant and that I am more than blessed just to be called Jane Roy’s husband. I can only hope not only to congratulate her in these words, but to emulate her in my actions and motives.