So Long, Farewell & How Do You Do

My life moving forward

I have spent almost half my life in the emergency management / security / life safety sector. It was a difficult career but I did my best and some would say I was quite good at it (municipal / provincial / federal accreditations, etc…). I have held the titles of Security Guard, Security Officer, Security and Life Safety Officer, Security & Life Safety Supervisor, Security & Life Safety Manager, Life Safety Coordinator, Emergency Task Force Executive Member, Emergency Management Specialist and International Ambassador for various NGOs and Faculties related to functions associated with Emergency Management and Life Safety.

Sometimes what I did made a huge difference in peoples lives, depending on the situation. Sometimes it was swept under the rug due to controversial issues associated to my assignments. Sometimes I was restrained from sharing what it was that I was doing and for whom I was doing it for. Sometimes becomes a burden when it becomes an every time.

I have participated in projects that helped change how the municipal, provincial and federal authorities and various corporate organizations deal with emergencies here in Canada. I have helped those who had nothing get the assistance they needed to change their lives. I protected the weak from those who would take advantage of them and prevented them from being harmed. I showed the lost the way back to civility. I secured and restrained those who would violate our freedoms and safety. I did what I felt was right for me, my family, friends and my Nation. My influence is there for those who were aware of my participation. I didn’t seek fame and glory. I simply tried to do a good job and make a difference in the immediate world I lived in. It in part made me the person I am.

When I left the rat race struggle of Toronto and came to Cape Breton Island three years ago I was heading toward a more constructive and peaceful lifestyle that had more heart in it. Being on the front line in which it is your task to be the deterrent for the bad things that lay in the dark waiting to take from us our security, safety and sanity, does wear at the soul. Most of us know good decent people in the nursing, policing and even the teaching field who work hard and long to do a decent job and to make a difference but the System tends to chew them up and spit them out. There is a reason for why depression and suicides are so evident in these groups. Its no different for the field in which I worked.

Back to the Now. I am fortunate as I met Tammy and found the woman of my dreams. We started a home together sharing it with our three dogs, my folks, my in-laws and extended family. Its been a turning point for me. Now I am leaving behind my former profession and taking on a new approach to life. No more confronting people with negative intentions, no more late nights spent on designing operational guidelines and procedures, no more frustrating executive meetings, no more management — union arguments, bye bye Kevlar vests, gloves and boots, so long hand cuffs, and the list goes on and on.

Now I am focused on living for me, my wife and my family rather then the Machine. Whatever may come, my objectives are to grow, to learn, to love, to laugh and to live. The journey was filled with the good, the bad, the sad, adrenaline, exhaustion, and opportunities of growth and challenges. Now I am moving onwards to something new. Thank you to the old me and hello to the new me.