I am reading Olivia Chow's autobiography, "My Journey" and this isn't always easy reading. It isn't badly written and it is not at all boring, but to look at this woman's laundry list of achievements and accomplishments by the time she was twenty-one is, shall we say just a little bit daunting? Perhaps I am envious? Olivia immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong when she was thirteen. They were poor and her father, suffering from mental health issues, used to beat her mother. Yet, she worked herself through university while establishing herself as a working artist (sculpture) and racking up experience as a suicide and crisis counselor while busting her ass at I have forgotten how many jobs, not to mention her already daunting experience of wilderness survival training. Where I have just left off she is twenty-one and an activist/worker on behalf of settling the refugee boat people in 1979. Her tone is anything but modest and I already have the sense of a high octane, driven, mega-achiever whose ambition knows no limit. Small wonder she is a politician!
I am referring here of course to the widow of the legendary Jack Layton who led the federal NDP to official opposition status in 2011 just before his untimely and tragic death from cancer. I have since been intrigued by this woman since she became a focus for national sympathy only to encounter someone so able and frighteningly competent and made of tempered steel that I now find it very difficult to think of any reason to feel sorry for her. I am certainly in awe of her, though as is almost always the case with politicians I must say that I also find her a little bit annoying.
It goes without saying that Olivia and I are two very different people. There are similarities: she is but one year younger than me, we are both Christians, we are both artists, and we both have backgrounds and ongoing experience in working for social justice. And we have both had to do well in the midst of very difficult and at times impossible circumstances. But here the resemblance ends. We have different genders and gender identities, and my gender is yet even something more distinct because I do not identify as specifically male but as androgynous. She is immigrant Hong Kong Chinese, I am a born third and fourth generation Caucasian Canadian. She successfully made it through university, I fell off the boat before I finished my second year of college. She always enjoyed a loving and supportive family and I am not going into my own family background here but let's say that it is through miracle upon miracle that I have turned out this well despite my abusive family.
The way we relate to our Christian faith is very different. I have never tried to use God or the church as a platform for my personal advancement but have always tried to put Jesus first in everything, to the sacrifice of having a career, a well-paid profession and absolutely none of the perks, benefits and comforts of a middle class life style. I have survived mental illness and work my butt off as an underpaid mental health peer support worker and but for the blessing of government assisted housing right now my sorry ass would be warming the sidewalk or a sleeping mat in a low barrier shelter.
Every single door that would somehow advance me as an artist or in a professional sense or help me complete my education has either been locked or has been slammed in my face.
I have not even learned how to drive, but you know, I don't even count that as a loss. In my teens I was acutely aware of the impact of vehicle emissions on the environment and opted not to participate in that particular dance of death. I am proudly not car dependent and this has actually made me all the more resourceful and has done much to enrich my life as I participate with the many others in public transport.
I do not know Olivia but I do trust that despite our very different paths in life, and very different kinds of successes, that we have both arrived at a sense of universal love, peace, acceptance and joy, and whatever path it takes to get there, that is the destination we should all train ourselves towards.
And I sincerely and surely hope that she kicks Rob Ford's extremely fat ass in the Toronto civic election this fall.
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