Of Madmen and Mayors

“There are lots of people who mistake their imagination for their memory.”  ~Josh Billings

Yesterday was one of those days when I got up, turned on the news and seriously considered going back to bed.  The western world was once again gripped in tragedy after the bombings in Brussels.  I made coffee and watched the news for about thirty minutes before deciding to turn it off.  I don't understand anything anymore.  It is too sick and too sad, too incomprehensible, too inhumane.  I cancelled my plans to go downtown for lunch.  I didn't have the heart to speak to anyone.

A couple of hours later while checking my Facebook page, I saw the news of Rob Ford's death.  Dying of cancer at just forty-six years old is sad.  Mr. Ford left two small children.  There is, no doubt, much sadness in his family.  They grieve for a brother, son, father and husband.  When it was becoming evident that his life would be coming to an end, I wondered what would be said about him when he passed.  Would the media whitewash Rob Ford, the man?  Would his political allies?  The general public?  

Just 50 people showed up for a vigil in the rain last night hosted by Mayor John Tory to honour the victims of the Brussels attack.  Thirty people dead, many more injured, ordinary people, going to work on the subway, going away on a holiday or going home, their lives snuffed out in an instant by madmen.   Many more Toronto residents showed up in the rain to leave flowers, notes and tokens at a makeshift shrine set up in the Etobicoke park named after Rob Ford's father.

When his death was announced yesterday morning, the media kicked into high gear, saying little more about Rob Ford's misdeeds than that he had his problems. They interviewed his colleagues at city hall including his fiercest opponents.  All talked about his love for his family and his kindness to people in need.  Maybe those things were true.  But equally and more true is that he was an abusive husband, racist, misogynist and criminal who hung out with bad men and did bad things.  He believed he was above the law.  He abused the office of mayor. He brought shame to our city and embarrassment to our citizens.  While I have no need to vilify him in death, I certainly have no intention of canonizing him either and I will not be complicit in rewriting history.  Surely our memories aren't that bad.