JACK LAYTON

On Monday, August 22, 2011, Jack Layton died. For the vast majority of Canadians he was not a personal friend but merely a celebrity politician. Indeed, most Canadians did not support his politics, and many actively opposed him. But, for almost two weeks now, he has been lying in state, so to speak. A few, like Ezra Levant of Sun Media, have been unable to endure this truce period, but most have stood by quietly, politely allowing the NDP to enjoy their moment in the sunset.

The first step in becoming a saint is one we all accomplish eventually; we die. And with our passing we enter a period of grace during which people are reluctant to say anything very negative about us. Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and the like are exceptions of course, but exceptions that prove the rule. People must have a remarkably low opinion of you before they will withhold this period of grace.

It’s all a bit awkward when applied to an opponent who has regularly been the target of our opprobrium, but that’s okay. This opprobrium free zone allows his or her loved ones to deal with their loss in peace, or to use it for partisan advantage for that matter. And presumably they will accord us the same benefit when our turn comes.

And this is really the point of it all. Our turn does come, because mortality is the thing we share with everyone, friends and enemies alike. The one good thing that can be said about death is that it brings a certain equality and sense of proportion.

Perhaps no one has said it better than John Donne:

"No man is an Island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

These past few days have been, for the most part, a nice break, not from partisanship but from rancour. Soon we will be back to “normal”. But for a while we have recalled our common humanity and how, for good or ill, our allies and opponents, our friends and enemies, are a lot like us.