Amiably Likeable Authority

Well, that's a refreshing change. A police chief whose humanity is that evident, someone in authority who is a 'human being', a mensch himself. One who hasn't been burdened with an unfortunate background of incompetence. Gleaned by the responses given by Ottawa's relatively new police chief, Chief Vern White, to questions put to him by a regular feature titled "20 questions" that appears weekly in the Sunday edition of The Ottawa Citizen.

His answers to the questions put to him have the quality of genuineness; nothing coy or brittle or stand-offish about this man. He is what he appears to be, apparently. A restless achiever. As an urban senior it makes me feel good to know that a man of his responsible calibre is in charge of the police force of the city where I live. I'm glad that I read that candid personal interview, glad to know about the man's core values.

Asked whether he was left with the impression that he was loved by his parents, he responded: "Yeah, mom loved me, all right. She hugged me till my eyes bled some days." As for his father: "Oh, he gave me a hug as well, yeah. My dad was a big hugger." Parents who respond to their children with both discipline and love leave well-adjusted adults in their wake.

His favourite song, 'Chariots of Fire'; good enough. The film was thoughtful, sensitive, and impressively inspirational (we won't mention that he stated his favourite film to have been 'Lethal Weapon', since I'm rather unimpressed with that as a choice, even though I have never seen the film; the title is more than enough. On the other hand, he's action-oriented and head of the local policing authority, so it figures, I guess).

And how utterly endearing it is to hear that a chief of police, who knows the psychology of the criminal mind, who has faced life-altering personal danger, and who has been exposed to the absolute worst havoc that sick minds of social deviants can devise, has an instinctive revulsion, even fear of - wait for it - earwigs.

I'm with him on that one; they're anciently devious and gruesomely disgusting creatures.

He avows that he is currently in possession of his 'dream job', that he is grateful that he was selected to his position, and that it is his intention to do the best he possibly can, to ensure ongoing trust of the people whom he serves. Hardly noble, merely practical, given the man and the situation. He is a restless soul, never able to sit still, a living dynamo.

He must be; apart from his obviously demanding job, he teaches at two universities. Close to home, no doubt, Carleton U. and U. of Ottawa; the courses? Likely criminal law, for he has a Master's Degree, and is currently working toward achieving his doctorate. Compelling, admirable to the nth degree.

That the best days of his memory linger around times spent with his coal-miner father fishing for trout on summer days, makes him further impressive in this reader's opinion. That he feels regret for not having satisfactorily spoken to his mother and father when they were alive, telling them of his unequivocal love for them, is touching. In all likelihood, they knew.

And for the final kicker, his inability to quite understand why celebrity figures who are clearly disreputable morally and ethically have a huge following among the young, brings him even higher in my estimation. He says he is baffled by people who are high achievers in sports and yet become involved in criminal activity.

Naming significant people with whom he would care to spend an evening: His mother and his father. Mahatma Gandhi. And the former, popularly-admired Chief of the Defence Staff of the Canadian Forces, Rick Hillier.

Love, Peace and Harmony, Defence. Humility, Humanity.