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A handful of gravel 

September 16, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart 

I have this neighbour who is kind of an irritating guy.  

I don’t have much to do with him, but he’s always out there doing something I don’t like. 

Either he’s mowing the lawn at a ridiculous hour or blasting his favourite lounge music or Mitch Miller hum-along CD’s way too late on his outdoor patio, while he drinks beer and gets louder as the night goes on.  

He also has a fire pit which allows smoke to drift into my home meaning some days I’ll open the front door of my house to be hit with the smell of a camp fire in the living room. 

One day last week he decided to fire up his high powered super octane turbo-charged mower and tackle the weeds at 6:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning while wearing short shorts, and a tank top. The sight alone was horrific, but the noise was just too much.  

I stealthily made my way outside to a location at the side of the house.  

The rock garden he built along the side of his place provided a number of fine projectiles. I found a rock about the size of a golf ball.  

As a former baseball player, I still have a relatively decent arm. I took aim and fired that rock across my lawn, and into his, and beaned him right on the side of his head. 

It was funny to see him yell out loud, and hit the ground. He had no idea what had happened, what hit him, or why he was on the ground nursing a sudden headache and calling for his wife to bring him a Tylenol.  

Does that sound like a logical, well thought out approach to dealing with a neighbour?  

Probably not. 

Well, none of that really happened, because I’m not a psycho and my neighbours are all pretty decent people.  

If I did have a problem with a neighbour I would approach it with a lot more restraint and common sense than throwing a rock at a guy’s head. 

The recent attack on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Bolton, by a group of people carrying vulgar signs and “yelling obscenities and exhibiting threatening behaviour toward the P.M.” was not the way Canadians typically deal with politics or political frustration.  

I’m not sure what issues specifically, this group has with the P.M., but resorting to threats, and bad public behaviour isn’t going to endear your cause to the public. 

It looks especially bad on the small town of Bolton, which is actually a nice place filled with nice people.  

The anti-rally got so bad, the P.M.’s security detailed there was too much of a risk to allow the rally to continue and allow the P.M. to speak to his supporters. 

I don’t care who the prime minister is at the time, or what his/hers political affiliations are. If he/she is the lawfully and duly elected leader of the nation, they deserve the respect of the office they represent. 

The incident was followed up by a second outburst in London. This time, some genius decided to show his frustration by throwing gravel at the PM.  

When you start doing things like that, you have hit a new low of public behaviour. 

A man was later charged with assault with a weapon for the gravel throwing incident – and rightfully so. 

If a stranger threw a handful of gravel into your face, you would be pretty quick to respond with either police help, or a quick punch to the face of your attacker. 

There is an election underway. That means you have a choice when you enter the polling station and cast a vote. 

It is un-Canadian to go on a physical attack on politicians you disagree with.  

This isn’t the Huey Long era of Louisiana where you settle your differences at the point of physical violence. 

This type of disruption not only serves to disappoint supporters, it is a way to stop children from meeting their nation’s current leader.  

What teacher or parent wants to deprive a classroom or child the opportunity to meet the prime minister because a trip to a rally could result in vulgarity, obscenity, and violence? 

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Trudeau supporter, or hope to see him replaced on September 20, he is still the PM and deserves the respect of the office. 

There are better ways to make your voice heard rather than throwing a rock at your neighbour.

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