Forums » Smalltalk » So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic...

Yesterday morning, Canada lost a wonderful man... The New Democratic Party leader, Jack Layton, succumbed to his second battle with cancer at 4:15 in the morning, surrounded by friends and loved ones. Jack was nothing like the stereotypical image of a politician that you would normally picture, he was... more than that. He was a happy, caring, brilliant, and charismatic man who really believed in the greater good and that we as a country have the ability to change things. I can't say it nearly as eloquently as he did, and so I wish to share with the kind and caring people of RPR his letter to Canada, which he wrote just a few weeks ago when he discovered that he wasn't gonna make it this time.

I might just be overly emotional about this, but he says some really inspiring things in that letter that I think apply to everyone, not just Canadians. His words touched my heart and I now wish to share them with you in the hope that it might touch you too... It's kind of a long read, and some part of it are really boring and political, but trust me when I say it's worth taking the five minutes it will take to read it.

So please, Canadian or not, join me in honoring a great man who was taken from us much too soon. RIP, Jack.

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no one cares

I do but I didn't really know what to say

My Canadian friend was nearly crying. And he never cries. I imagine Jack Layton was to Canada what FDR and JFK were to us Americans?

Of course people care.

It was and is very sad. It came as an incredibly shock to me that he died. He was one of the reasons I started to vote and made sure to vote right after I turned 18. He had been in my city only two months ago- I even saw a clip of him (not sure where he was) doing a jig and dancing with the cane. The letter he left was heart felt and wonderful.

Yesterday I watched over tons of the Rick Mercer Reports with him, he was charismatic, funny and honest.

And he was a total Star Trek fan.

And to add in, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Remembering Jack Layton.

I've kind of been moping around since I heard the news yesterday. I had one of those 'oh please oh please let this be one of those 'the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated'' moments after reading the headline on my newsfeed yesterday. Alas, not so.

He'll be missed. He was the greatest prime minister we never had.

awh guys

sorry I got all emo there when no one posted right away. I was seriously broken up by this news, and still am. people seem to be making beautiful tributes to him though, and I am glad that he is remembered so fondly!

Though I knew him not, and I did not know of him, he seems a fellow I would have liked to be around. Let us not hoist our pints in sorrow, but in happiness that he has moved on to a far better place than this. The sunlight shall shine forever on him, wherever he may be. Good night, Jack, and good sleep. You earned it.

I will drink to that, yes sir I will.