At the end of Facing Off with Literacy I had a chance to speak with some of the attendees about the address from 2 time NHL coach of the year and literacy advocate, Jacques Demers. “Surprising” and “Inspiring” were the words that i heard the most but there was one opinion that stood out for me. It was from a local teacher who simply stated “I don’t know if he was awful, or brilliant…” As soon as I heard his opinion, I knew exactly how he had felt. Literacy is often a very methodical and routine world but everything about the event, including the address, was completely outside the norm. Mr Demers never speaks from a script, “only from the heart” as he puts it. There is a lot of emotion and suffering that form the basis of his speech and you can hear it in his individual stories. They covered everything from school life, to isolation, to abuse, to teen pregnancies to jail – all in a raw and detailed manner. It was shocking at first to witness, but with each story you began to understand why he speaks about literacy the way he does. Literacy is never an isolated issue, the reason we see it all over our community is because it is often connected to several other issues in our lives. These other issues may sometimes be shocking to address but we as literacy supporters have to be ready to face them if we are to create a strong literacy culture within our community.
During the Q & A section of Facing Off with Literacy, a lot of anxious fans gathered around the mic to pose they’re respective hockey questions to Mr. Demers. “How did you know that McSorley’s stick was illegal?” seemed to be the most common topic, but then, after all the fans of the game said their piece, a young boy came up to mic. He began by saying that he didn’t have a question at all, but nonetheless wanted to say something important. He was nervous and timid at first but then opened up to Mr. Demers and the entire audience. “I didn’t know what to expect from tonight… one of my teachers suggested that I go…and I’m glad I did…”. He went on to say how he has lived a troubled life and that he was touched to hear someone like Mr. Demers have a childhood that paralleled his own, whether it be because of loneliness, bullying or living with a single parent. There was emotion in his story but he held back any tears as he continued, because at the end of the day, he just wanted to express his gratitude to Mr. Demers for giving him hope, for letting him know that you can have these challenges and still make something of yourself and for letting him know that it’s OK to be himself – He didn’t have a question, he just wanted to say “thank you”.
Needless to say, the entire audience was very moved by this young student who came up and opened up to 400+ strangers. In my own mind, I wondered how Mr. Demers could possibly respond to such an emotional and raw moment. He walked up to the boy, gave him a hug, told him he was proud of what he just did and then surprised everyone in the room when he asked if he could mentor him. There was a silence amongst the crowd, partly because the majority of us couldn’t believe what we had just heard, followed by a roaring applause. A midst the excitement, Mr. Demers did keep it straight, “No lying, work hard and I’ll call you every week, Ok?” The boy seemed almost in shock after hearing the question, then again I probably would be too if an NHL legend asked to be my mentor, but gleefully accepted in the end and gave Mr. Demers his phone number.
It’s stories like this that make you realize why we do what we do. There’s something about a raw moment that just can’t be summarized by numbers and statistics. It’s something we experience, something we take away and carry with us for the rest of our lives. Like the young boy, we all need a bit of hope and inspiration every so often to remind us that we’re on the right path, that the end goal is worth the price of dedication and hardships. I guess the end to this story isn’t for a few years when we get to see if the impact of Mr. Demers’ mentoring results in a happy and successful life for his newest protege but you have to hand it to Mr. Demers. His address to the audience was blunt, raw and anything but eloquent, but they were words he lives by.
“I believe in rehabilitation. I believe in people. I believe in giving someone a chance.”
Rita
xoxox
Bonus
A few of the more memorable quotes from Jacques Demers at Facing Off with Literacy. Enjoy!
“A special moment from Facing Off with Literacy More Than a Book” was a
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