JACK LAYTON: A LIFE WRITTEN IN CHALK

By now most Canadians are aware of the passing of Jack Layton. Former Toronto City counsellor, head of the Federal NDP party, well known figure on our political scene. This is not going to be a post about Mr Layton; much has already been written, much is still be written, most of it by people far more qualified than I.

What this post is about is grief, and the public expression thereof. After Jack died something rather remarkable began to happen. A tribute was erected at Nathan Phillips Square, the public space right in front of City Hall. That is not unusual nor unexpected. Placing flowers for public figures who have passed has become so popular that it almost has transcended tribute to the point of ritual.

But something else happened. To my understanding someone put down a sheet of paper at the memorial so people could write a few words.

The paper quickly filled up but people still wanted to have their comments seen, so they took a piece of chalk and just wrote on the grey concrete that surrounds the memorial and of which the entire square is made. I don't think I've seen this before and although it quickly became a "media event" it really did strike me as something that a spontaneous or even an impulsive expression.

As I said, it soon became an "event" as people heard about what was happening and flocked down to the square, to add their comments. By the time I got there, the day of Layton's funeral the entire square was covered with writing and pictures in chock, thousands of them probably, everywhere you looked

A lot of the messages was simply Thank you or RIP, but the variety of sentiments was almost as dazzling as were the sheer number of messages. There were many depictions of Jack's famous mustache and of course, lots of bicycles.

There were messages in a wide variety of languages. Chinese characters were very prevelant and I'm sure many of those were speaking directly to Jack's widow, Olivia Chow. Many messages were directly to Olivia, a career politician in her own right, people saw them as a true partnership

I loved the idea of a public space basically being transformed into a ... literally .. open book. In our era of email and facebook and IM's and texting, people took this place, a place where Jack toiled for many years, and turned it into an open letter, communicating with a simple piece of chalk, bending down on knees, stretching up, finding a space, moving the chalk against the concrete, putting in a small effort of labour to express their remorse and their appreciation for a man who many had never met and yet who had had a profound impact on their lives.

Jack, champion of the bicycle, a man who remained grass roots even as the official opposition in the country, probably would have appreciated that.

Here is the video.