It’s been a bit since I’ve been able to put pen to paper, the reasons for this vary, but today I got my motivation from a source least expected. Not from some YAHOO calling me the “The joke of the community”, (Yeah you ignorant Jerk, I’m talking about you)
But from a couple that has supported my efforts.
Jack and Anna are two seniors who, whether with a kind word or a Toonie, have let me know they appreciate me de-filthifying the Queen St. west. Heck these fine folks actually took the consideration to give me one of the three Christmas cards I got this festive season just past!
While my many encounters with these fine folks, just east of Bathurst have left me grinning like the cat in wonderland. One day was different though, I really got to know these people, by hearing, (not just listening) about their life. I had run into them, not as per usual in front of Michael’s (a hole in the wall of a watering hole), but rather inside when all my bending over and picking up trash forced me and my
bloated bladder towards the nearest facilities.
Where inside, after a brief debate on whether a person who rids someone’s storefront of garbage, (often without pay) should be exempt from the mantra of “washrooms are for paying customers only”. I was granted the glorious privilege of using a facility that could, for the fear of Internet censorship due to the obscene nature of the facilities, be described as a washroom in name only. I was then offered to sit and
enjoy a beer with Jack and Anna.
While normally I would be in too much of a rush to get on with my work, I was ever so glad to know two of the real faces of Queen West, as great as it was. I was then told of Anna’s experiences as a young girl in Holland, when the Canadian forces freed the country from the sadistic grip if the Nazis. A thing no Adult let alone Child should ever have to go through. To see the wonderfully caring person in front of me, despite, of perhaps because of, these unimaginable to most hardships is a true testament to her great character.
Then Jack went on to tell me how he worked his way up the ladder, and down the tracks of different railway companies going from emptying box-carts to being a brakeman with everything in between for the made famous for monopoly’s B+O railroad. This is but just a small sampling of what I heard that pays, and what is available to anyone who takes the time to hear what I think Queen West is all about. Something that in our
increasingly busy days, we tend to forget. It’s not the buildings that make the city, it’s the people. So if something as important as this couldn’t motivate me to write, than I don’t know what could.
On a side note to the fella who asked if I found a Alberta drivers license… no such luck so far, but I’ll keep my eyes peeled.
Found a CBC radio card of Nicola Lucsic on Queen West on Halloween.
IN SERVING EACH OTHER, WE BECOME FREE
--Knights of the round table, Camelot-
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12 comments:
Hi, I just read your story and I think you should post it on itakecare.ca where other people like us try to take better care.
Hello Mark,
Just saw a link to your blog from the mymarket webpage. I was always curious when I saw you (usually on Queen St W) and in awe of the great work that you were doing. Definitely inspired me and my husband to pick up garbage in parks and such more often. It sounds like you have a tremendous amount of passion for how you devote yourself and resilience to put up with the bad days along with the bad. Hope to run into you again and keep up the wonderful work!
Christine
I LOVE YOU! I am back in the city and I can't find you!!! I wan to work with you and stuff, we met a few times and you called me Darling. It made me melt..... You are truly am amazing person!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi,Iam Yuzo ,Japanese student.
I came to Toronto 5months ago.
I was suprised that there are many litter on the ground. I want to clean up,and if you are still going on,I would like to help you and I want everybody to be interested in environment.
This is my email address
yuzo1002inspire10@gmail.com
I am looking forward to your reply.Thank you
Dude, keep doing what're doing! You're an inspiration to many. I live in Parkdale and when I see you I try to give what I can. I work for a local bar that is very appreciative of your work. Thanks again!
I just saw the article about you in The Star. Amazing work you do. I used to go to school in the area. It really needs someone like you.
What a heart wrenching story.
Keep up the good work. Give yourself a pat on the back.
Hi Mark,
I think what you're doing is absolutely great. I just happened to read your article only because it was for my class project but it became more than just a project for me. I think what your doing is a perfect example of what more people need to be doing or just throw their garbage in the trash bin.So I just like to thank you for all you have done for the city of Toronto
Hi Mark,
I just read the Toronto Star article, and, tell you the truth, I think it is very wonderful of you to "turn something negative into positive." Everyone in our society functions as if greed and pride are the only elements of daily motivation. You, however, cast a unique spotlight on some virtues that we have long forgotten.
Keep up the good work, and just for the sake of it, I will come downtown and look for you, probably offer you lunch or something. Like hand sanitizer or gloves. :)
Hi Mark,
I also read about your story in the Star. I think its awesome that you're living your life to your own style, indifferent to other people's opinions. Please keep up the good work =D.
Hi Mark,
I just finished reading your story in The Star and I wanted to let you know that you are my new hero. Tomorrow I am going to cut out your story and hang it in my classroom. I am a teacher, who came back from a year's sabbatical in India. This year has been incredibly hard for me, trying to reacclimatize to our society, and before I go on, I will apologize to some of my more positive-minded students, but I must say that I am often disheartened by the apathy and lack of perseverance I witness in many of my other students. They are handed everything and yet appreciate nothing. Anything that is not exactly want they want to do, or hear, is approached with a negative attitude. They refuse to work for themselves, to make their own life better, let alone anyone else's. They have had the world handed to them on a silver platter and think the world owes them a living.
I try to tell them of the things I saw in India. Of the way children and teens appreciate every day they can go to school, every scrap of education they receive, every chance they have to better themselves and appreciate every chance they have to kick around a soccer ball made of rags. Most of this falls on deaf ears.
I want show them your story. A story of a young man strong enough to persevere through difficult times, do something great for his enviroment and his community and make a change in the world in his own small way. I'm hoping they will connect with your story and find the inspiration to get up and do something, anything. To stop blaming others for their imagined problems and take control of their lives.... that is my hope.
Thank you so much Mark and the the author of the article, for bringing this story to the public.
I hope I can help you out some day with your dream.
Mark!??,
I'm pretty sure this is "the Mark Giesbrecht of Corydon". I don't know if you will get this or if you will remember me but I decided to look you up to see how you are.
Nicole is my name:)
Sounds like you are famous in Toronto and the story I read definitely sounds like the Mark I knew back then.
Take care:)
hello there mark, you make me melt. i don't know why, but when i see that mischevious grin on your wonderful face i can't help but feel fluttered and swoon.
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