Oakley and the compassionate tat
Posted on August 26th, 2011 –
So there’s this guy I’ve been chatting with on Twitter over the last couple of days named Troy Oakley (@OakleyInc) who convinced me that maybe, just maybe, not all conservatives are heartless jerks.
Okay, so it might seem like I’m name dropping here — Troy did after all manage to land country-wide headlines today over this little bit of body art:
…but that’s not the case. You see, our discussion started around the awful direction that the conservatives seem to be heading in in this country. Everyone from Rob Ford to Steven Harper come across as callous axe-wielding maniacs bent on destroying every vestige of humanity in this great country.
Then, almost as if by magic, Troy stepped out of the Twitterverse and agreed with me, all the while claiming he was also a conservative. He even admired the recently departed Jack Layton of the NDP party (the mainstream Commies of the Canadian political spectrum) — someone almost anathema to the Progressive Conservatives.
I was, like, come again?
Yup, seems like you can still believe in not wasting money, being responsible, and all that other stuff without being a bloodthirsty bureaucrat. In fact, the final words Layton wrote as he was on his deathbed resonated with Troy so much that he had them tattooed on his arm. And I gotta say, despite being generally averse to marking up my own flesh, this is something I could never fault anyone for etching on their skin. Beats the hell out of meaningless Chinese symbols or fancy geometric patterns.
And holy fuck if it doesn’t give me hope for the future.
If you happen to be around tonight, tune in to Newstalk 1010 at around 9:45 to hear an interview with Troy, or just pick up a paper tomorrow and read about how the world may not quite be ready to go to hell in a hand basket just yet.
... with pictures
... with sounds
... with videos
... with opinions
... that's shorter
... that's longer
August 26th, 2011 6:55 pm
I am humbled to have this article written, it’s not about me or party color lines,
It’s about NEVER forgetting what these final words mean