It's been a week

This past week has been…well…. I don’t have words to explain. We had another great parade and demo in Onoway yesterday which was great. I am glad all is coming together and we continue to grow as a team.  I still look back and see we are light years ahead of last year when we were scrambling for a Canada demo and now two are in the bag. No this week was overshadowed by events at the start of the week. First came Tuesday when our next door neighbour’s house was broken into while Judi and the boys were playing in the backyard. Not the nicest thing to have taken place but again no one was hurt and whatever was stolen can easily be replaced. Then Wednesday I receive a frantic text from my wife to call her asap. Turns out an older gentleman decided to shoplift from the grocery store where Judi was just leaving. Three staff followed him out and asked him to stop and give up the items he had taken – he got in his car to leave. As this unfolded another bystander decided to stop the gentlemen and jump through the window and pull him from his car. The man in the car while fighting with the other bystander backed up and then drove away smashing into Judi’s shopping cart and pinballing into two vehicles beside hers. Driving away the bystander disappeared and the car is gone as everyone sits in shock. My boys had been in the shopping cart less than two minutes before. Now as I have gotten older and maybe a little wiser I see things differently than years before. If I had been there at that moment my concern would be for the three staff members, my family even the would be shoplifter at the moment – emotions can lead to dangerous situations. The young man that jumped in the car, yes you were brave but was it worth putting your life and now others in danger for a small sum that was stolen – I think not. What if the guy pulled a weapon, anything can happen. Hindsight is always twenty-twenty and I am obviously relieved no one was hurt especially my family. Put yourself into the shoplifter’s eyes, maybe he was desperate for something to eat and had no money. Every time we get into a fight we have missed the thousands of opportunities to not engage in one. Being mindfull of your actions, your emotions and your thoughts is paramount. I gave my wife and my boys a big hug that night; take nothing for granted in this life.

Sifu Bryant

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