Proud To Know These Folks

FTLComm - Tisdale - May 4, 1999 I have been planning to write this piece for a long time but each time I was about to do it something came up, but yesterday afternoon pushed me to the brink and made me realise that this article was long over due. I have had a couple of close calls backing out of parking spots at the 7-11 so it is my habit now to back into parking spots facing out. Yesterday as I was easing my way into a spot this car slipped by me and parked in

the spot I was heading for. Now this can happen anywhere and it has happened to me before and I know if it happened in many places the driver would just laugh it off and perhaps poke fun at me the old fuddy duddy. But what happened needs to be reported. I parked in another spot and when I got out of the van the young driver was waiting to talk to me. He appologise sincerely thinking I was driving out not coming in and was sorry to make the mistake. (The picture below was taken one really miserable day when I spotted these two on their way to school, the picture is from some distance but they were cheerful making their way to school and facing the elments with style)

Now if this was the only example I could give you it really wouldn't be remarkable, but this is just another of so many instances in Tisdale where I have been shown some of the best mannered young people you could ever meet. Stop any teenager on the street in Tisdale and you will discover immediately what I am talking about. Individually or in groups they are cheerful and polite, they tollerate my impertinence when I ask them dumb questions and always smile and return a greeting. Having worked with young people all my life I know this isn't the norm, that in many places young people are extremely suspicious of old guys like me, especially when I am walking around with my camera in my hand. But at hockey games, in the cafeteria, on road trips, in stores, as clerks and pedestrians these are the greatest kids.

It was near Christmas when I happened to be at the RecPlex and snapped this picture of normal lunch hour behaviour and the atmosphere was pleasant and surprising calm. I had just been standing in line at the counter and a grade eleven girl I had never met in my life before responded to my quiery about exams and told me that she was worried about a physics exam but was confident she had the English aced, without reservation she talked to me about how she faced her exams and the way she handled study and how she liked the help she was getting from her teachers and fellow students.