Jimmy Carter turned 95 on Oct. 1. That same week the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 suffered injuries from a fall at his home.
Just hours after receiving 14 stitches and a black eye he was on his way to Nashville for a week of volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity. He was helping building porches for 21 homes as part of the 36th Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project. There were no Donald Trump sightings reported there.
Here in Canada, a day after the president's birthday, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was campaigning in Montreal when he was confronted by a man who told him to cut off his turban to "look like a Canadian."
Singh calmly replied, "Oh, I think Canadians look like all sorts of people. That's the beauty of Canada."
As the still calm and dignified NDP leader walked away the man countered, ""All right, take care, eh?. I hope you win."
And so do many other citizens. Since that encounter Singh's NDP fortunes have soared at the polls. The NDP won't win the election but Singh has captured the hearts of countless Canadians with his show of decency and restraint.
The latter was recently witnessed during an Oct. 1 federal election forum in Innisfail, and it came from the other side of the political spectrum.
Paul Mitchell, the candidate for the far right People’s Party of Canada, had incumbent Earl Dreeshen of the Conservative Party of Canada, in his sights for a good chunk of the evening but Dreeshen refused to take the bait, refused to get into a mudslinging fray. He remained composed and dignified. Dreeshen was a pro. He too gave a fine example of how today's politicians should behave.
Following the forum Dreeshen even agreed with the scribbler on the importance of the courage and strength of character shown by NDP riding candidate Logan Garbanewski, a 21-year-old Red Deer College student who was giving it all for his party and for the cause of democracy by just being there, and available for citizens who have the inalienable right to hear and question all ideas and platforms from all political parties.
The Liberal candidate, Gary Tremblay, did not even attend the Innisfail forum. The public also deserved his presence, even if this region is hardly fertile ground for federal Liberals.
But at least we know we can count on a measure of decency from the other candidates.
In a world where the norm during elections is a descent into raging accusations and gotcha journalism a light of hope has at least briefly shined.
And who would have thought decency came the same time from both the NDP and Conservative Party of Canada?
Johnnie Bachusky is the editor of the Innisfail Province.
