A Life In Pictures... Or a year, anyway

Last year around this time, I gave myself a task for 2014. I decided that I wanted to commit to taking one photo per day from my life and posting it to Facebook.  By the time the year was over I would have 365 individual snapshots that I could look back on that would remind me of the highs and lows, the unique moments, and many of the seemingly mundane happenings that make up the lion’s share of our lives.

It doesn’t seem like a big deal to most people that are reading this column, I’m sure, but there was quite a bit of significance to me.

One of my favorite movies of all time is the 1986 John Hughes film, ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’.  One of the picture’s most famous lines is delivered during one of Ferris’ many fourth wall breaks where he directly addresses the audience. He says:

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

I feel like my life has been moving at an alarmingly high rate for a long time – especially since becoming a father. What used to feel like endless waves of free time in my youth has turned into far too little time with my family and friends, and far too many hours spent at work or doing things that fall into that great catch-all categorization of ‘adult responsibility’.  Hours turn into days, days roll over to weeks, and weeks blend into months; with only a few vivid memories standing out along the way. 

Like Marty McFly in ‘Back To The Future’, I sometimes wish I was able to build a Delorean time machine to make time stand still – or at least slow down a bit.

My ‘Project 365’, as I called it, was my attempt at making some of those fleeting memories more tangible. It was also an exercise to see exactly where my year had gone. I finally took a look at all the photos I have taken for the first time before writing this piece.

There’s a lot of filler – like the time I took the photo of my kitchen clock at five minutes to midnight to show that I almost missed my photo deadline. There are about a dozen pictures of the never ending snowfalls of last winter – always with some expletives added. There’s the funny photo of the contraceptives in the clearance basket at the drug store; not something most people would want to compromise the quality of for a few pennies, I’d wager.  There’s one of my ever-expanding bald spot, a few of sights around Moncton, and what photo album would be complete without the odd selfie here or there?

I knew that I would find some good, quality photos I took this year, though. What I didn’t expect to find were emotions that came bubbling back with many of the snapshots I had catalogued. I also didn’t realize that events that seemed to have happened eons ago have been a part of history for just a few months.

There are the photos I took of our neighborhood and my family while in lockdown during the first week of June.  There is the incredible monument of gifts that was on display outside RCMP headquarters in the days following the lockdown, and the double rainbow that stretched across the sky in my backyard.  There’s a rain-soaked Canadian flag on the day of the Ottawa shooting, the demolition of Highfield Square, and gas prices under a dollar – a sight I never thought I’d see again in my lifetime.

These aren’t the most important ones, though.

There’s that great shot of the storm day home with my family back in February. There’s the first time I took my son fishing.  There’s my time in Boston chronicled with three great friends. There’s the first day of school. I have a couple of truly great shots of my kids’ birthdays. A memory of a July night spent with my beautiful wife listening to a Zydeco band on Main Street.  Apple picking, Canada Day fireworks, my dog during the first snowfall, Christmas lights and the Santa Claus Parade; they’re all there – along with many more too numerous to mention.

2014 seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, but all these photographs show me how much life I lived – and how much love I was surrounded by - in these last 12 months. As someone who regularly comments on how fast life is moving, this was a great chance to stop and look around for once.

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but I am making a promise to myself this year to do something similar to my ‘Project 365’ photo album – to chronicle the year that will be. My hope is that anyone reading this may find some inspiration to do the same, and that you may find as much value in your next 365 days as I did my last 365.

Happy New Year, everyone. 

F&*K Tha Police? Seriously?

When exactly did the police become public enemy number one?

I’ve been on this planet almost 40 years now and I’m proud to say that I have never once had a run-in with law enforcement.  I’ve been subject to the odd vehicle checkpoint, was a witness in some court proceedings, and had to call the police at a couple of past workplaces – but I’ve never found myself in the sights of a cop who wanted to cuff me and throw me in the back of the paddy wagon.

I have friends and relatives on police forces, knew almost every member of the town police by name back in my hometown, and have had some really good experiences with the RCMP both in and out of uniform since I moved to Moncton ten years ago. That’s why I’m increasingly bewildered at the number of people who profess to “hate cops”.

The situation in Ferguson, Missouri last week is bringing a lot of bile to the surface because of the acquittal of the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. Officer Darren Wilson was found not guilty of murdering Michael Brown because a jury of twelve decided that Officer Brown had just cause in discharging his firearm in the act of self defense.  Officer Wilson was allegedly struck by Mr. Brown – a suspect in a nearby robbery - and an attempt was made to wrestle Officer Wilson’s firearm away from him.

While many will point to racial tensions in the area as the cause of this incident, I’d like to skip over that whole hornet’s nest for a moment. I’d just like to know how anybody in their right mind could ever think that you’re going to get away with both striking an officer and making a play for his gun. Put aside all the cries of racism and police corruption and put yourself down on Main Street in Moncton. You’re walking down the center of the road and an RCMP officer flags you over and tells you to get out of the street.
Do you a) take their advice and get over on the sidewalk or b) reach in through the window to strike the officer and decide that it’s a good idea to steal their gun while you’re at it?

If you chose option ‘b’, congratulations – you’re likely going to get shot.

The whole Ferguson issue can’t be boiled down to that simple of a summary, but it seems like the media is just sensationalizing this beyond all rational limits. It’s accomplishing nothing other than making many of the citizens of Ferguson look like a living crime wave and generating ammo for those who are just looking for more reasons to loathe the ‘five-oh’.  I watched almost 20 minutes of CNN footage where the crowd chanted expletives in the background aimed at police, and people thought it was great. That helps no one.

When I was growing up, the only people who had issue with the police were the ones who were always getting in trouble. My Granddad always used to say “If you want to avoid trouble with the cops, don’t break the law – it’s pretty idiot proof”. Today, though, because of wing nuts like United States conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, entertainment that glorifies police/citizen confrontations, and a culture that thinks that we should be able to do whatever we want (because we’re all beautiful and unique snowflakes), police have become a popular target for scorn because “they’re trying to persecute us, man!”

Give me a break.

I’m not saying that all cops are great people. Like every other lot in life, they have their share of bad apples. Right now, there is a large movement just outside my home town to expose the truth behind a crime that happened almost 25 years ago where evidence points to a teen boy having been beaten to death by police officers. There are jerks on every police force, I would wager – much like there are awful doctors in every hospital and rotten teachers in almost every school.  You don’t see anyone torching a town over malpractice or bad grades, though.

I have a great distrust for anyone who has great anger towards those whose job it is to protect us. The events of this past June in Moncton would point to my feelings having some merit. I’d be the idiot my Granddad referred to if I thought that there were no ‘bad cops’ that put on a badge every day with the intention of just going out and making life difficult for people -  I just don’t believe that they’re anywhere close to the majority.

Whether it’s Ferguson, Missouri or Moncton, New Brunswick,  I believe our police forces deserve far more respect that what they receive. They’re mainly a group of guys and gals trying to make a living doing a very dangerous and often thankless job.

What do I know, though? I’ve never fought the law.