One of my favourite summers was a few years ago. After yet another disastrous attempt at a relationship, I was looking for something positive to focus on. A friend of mine had developed a community garden, and my daughter and I decided we wanted to put our hands into the dirt. I met some amazing people that summer, and not the least of them was Jean Gauthier. He was fixing water hoses and cleaning up.
“Are your the maintenance man here?” I queried.
“No, I have a plot, and am just helping out.”
He spoke in a French accent, and I was reminded of all the hard working Francophone Canadians I’d worked with over the years. If you want a hard worker, hire one. Jean was working for an Oil and Gas company at the time, and as we all know that industry has been hit hard. Jean was laid off as pipelines were delayed and cancelled.
Jean came to work with me that fall. He was humble, quiet, hard working, honest, kind. That winter we purchased a bobcat together and took on a snow removal contract. Jean cleared off one of the largest lots in Calgary every night it snowed, with a small bobcat, no loader, no blade. It would take him 8 hours. As any snow removal company knows, finding guys to go out in the dark and push snow is next to impossible. It was my decision to sell the equipment. It was obvious I had the right man, but the wrong equipment.
As my work slowed Jean went to work at Plasti-Fab. It wasn’t long before he was given added responsibility, as always, but the pipeline company he had previously worked for came calling and offered him his well paid position back, and he took it.
That winter I was volunteering to drive a couple to Airdrie to catch rides to the Tom Baker for chemotherapy. They told me about a man that came and shovelled their sidewalk for them every time it snowed. It was Jean. Being humble as he is, he never mentioned it. He was doing a lot of people’s walks. He is Crossfield’s snow angel, and he’s been doing it for years.
Jean is running for town council. I wanted to tell everyone who he is. How great he is, how honest he is. He is incapable of lying, cheating, or manipulating. He will always do what he says.
Myself and Jean are very different. He loves rules, I die under them. He likes order, I love chaos, but he has my vote. I’m sure I’ll disagree with him often, but I’ll know he’s working hard for this town and has its best interest at heart.
He messaged me after the town hall candidates forum:
“Did you watch me screw up?” He asked.
“You are awesome Jean, I’m proud of you.” I replied.
But if you really watch that forum, did Jean promise anything we know he can’t deliver? Did you hear him say he’d work hard, he’d learn? I did. everything he does or says is 100% Authentic.
There is nothing in this for me. I have no connections to the town and I rarely do business with them other than to submit permits or pay taxes. I don’t know if Jean is right or left politically, I don’t care. I rarely believe in anything, and am usually a sarcastic, jaded cynic. There is something so authentic about Jean. He will go to the meetings, he will take on jobs, and he will do them well. We need ideas, but we also need workers. Jean is a worker. Imagine looking out your window and watching a town councillor shovelling an elderly neighbours sidewalk. I want to live in that town. He’s awkward, he struggles to find the right words, English is his second language after all, but he’s a resourceful man who loves to get things done.
Honestly, the idea of Jean on town council has me smiling, hopeful even. Look at the world we are in, imagine if we voted in the humble, the awkward, the ones that serve others without a camera filming. I’m tired of slick talk, and no walk.
In the candidates forum, while discussing the town hall, he was wondering aloud about “wheelchair people” and if a site would be accessible to them. Obviously he didn’t find the appropriate words, but he was thinking about the right things. That’s Jean.
If you read this far, thank you. Tris.
Tristram's Blog 