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I originally titled this topic “Moments in Time.” But after delving into the topic, I realized the moments revolved around people, so I went back and changed the title. The broader backstory I cover is in the annual collection of Blogs for the calendar year, which is published via Apple Books in the first quarter of the following year. The link at the bottom of my emails points to the latest annual collection, which is free, BTW.

The self-imposed challenge was to identify a person in each generation of my life who had a lasting impact on me. What fun this is going to be.

During my Scouting years, the leader, Bob Mathews, took scouts who wanted to go winter camping in the Laurentians north of Montreal. That’s where the Scout Camp was located, in a beautiful setting amid hills covered with maple trees.

Bob impacted my life by teaching me life skills in harsh conditions. Yes, -40°C happened often. Try waking up in the morning to find my boots folded over and frozen into an odd modern-art shape. I gained confidence to withstand hardships, solve unfamiliar problems, and maintain a positive ‘can-do’ attitude.

The next person who changed my life was Fred Ford, my mother’s friend. He was part of a group of young people connected to the church my mother attended. At the time, colour film and colour slides were slowly entering the photographic options. They cost more than black and white and had to be mailed to Toronto for developing. But it only took a week to get the little plastic case with my slides inside.

I was torn about whether to try the colour option. It was a tough choice for a teenager who relied on Christmas and birthday money for discretionary spending. I shared my dilemma with Mr. Ford, an avid photographer. After hearing his comments, he handed me some bills to cover the cost of my first roll of colour slide film. I jumped at the opportunity, and I don’t think I ever bought another roll of black-and-white film.

This act impacted my life. I realized he had ‘lowered the risk’ of taking a step I wanted to take but was afraid to take. I have lowered the risk for many people whose paths have crossed mine. I can’t think of any who did not end up well for the person taking that feared first step. 

I spoke with a Vice Principal at Monkland High School about my grade 10 class placement. There were ten grade 10 classes, A to J. Those closer to the A group were likely headed to university. I was placed in the A group. After I took the school-system-wide IQ test in grade 8 or 9, my parents were advised that we should consider me lucky if I finished high school. No doubt I was not going to university. I thought there had been an administrative error. The VP calmly told me that, no, I was in the right group, as she thought I could do it. Being the passive, shy, quiet teenager I was, I accepted her explanation.

For the last two years of high school, I came in, mark-wise, just a few marks above the worst in the class. I struggled.

French has been compulsory in Quebec since grade 3. By the time I got to my final year, grade 11, I was anything but fluent in French. I couldn’t have a conversation in French. Students needed to pass French to graduate.  Things were not looking good.

Mrs. McGrath was my last-year French teacher. She was prepping all her students for the French Orals that had a School Board representative leading the testing. During this prep time Mrs. McGrath was helping me in front of my fellow classmates with a tricky grammatical formation. The moment passed unnoticed.

To my surprise and relief, the issue came up as part of the Oral Testing. I aced that section and passed my course with a rating of 51%. I’m glad I didn’t do any more studying than was necessary! But I did achieve a grade mark high enough to be accepted into McGill University. Since then, I’ve doubted the value and validity of all IQ tests. I graduated with a BSc.

The next person who impacted my life and still does is Georges Erasmus. He started his activism with the Company of Young Canadians. He worked tirelessly for the rights of Indigenous. He finally co-wrote a book, “Enough!” about his work. Google him to learn so much more.

He taught me, by osmosis, the importance of personal honesty and strong values.

I could go on to mention a few more important people in my life, but I’ll close with the value of having Lois Love in my life. My wife wanted to keep her own name when she decided to get married, and I fully supported her in maintaining her identity. This will be the shortest reveal, as it could easily take several Blogs to fully address. Suffice it to say she tops the list in every category for the impact she has had on my life.

Please give this a bit of a think. Who are some people in your life who either changed the trajectory of your life or provided some intangible but real impact.

Please comment: Send me an email with your bit of a think. I am curious about your thoughts.

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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