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Michael Baker: Wow, what an interval! |
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 07 March 2009 |
“Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The Carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality”
The above quote, by Emily Dickinson, more or less sums up Michael Baker’s interval. He wasn’t stopping for Death, that’s for sure.
It has been said that there are two things we cannot control; or birth and our death, only the interval in between. When our former finance minister passed last Monday, I thought, “Wow, what an interval!”
Michael not only taught us how to face death, more importantly, he taught us by example how to live. Put the little things we tend to carp about into perspective.
I felt for an emotional Rodney MacDonald as he fought back tears trying to talk about his friend and colleague. Clearly distraught as he was being scrummed by the media, he talked about how Michael, racked with pain and wasting away in front of us, carried on with his service to the province, never complaining.
For the past three years, we watched a once hulking individual being reduced to skin and bones. Each time I saw him on television or in pictures in the newspaper, he had deteriorated more. Yet there he was, performing his duty as Finance Minister, one of the toughest roles in government. Never once did he complain. It was awe inspiring.
I didn’t know Michael Baker personally. Yet for the past three years he had been my hero. I can only hope, when, as the legendary sports writer Red Smith once said, “….that Great Scorer comes, to mark against my name….”, I can face it with an ounce of his courage.
During my time around Province House, we passed in hallways, nodded and smiled but never struck up a conversation. One time, in particular, stands out in my mind. I was in the gallery at the House of Assembly, watching the proceedings below, when Michael rose and asked permission of the Speaker to make an introduction.
Beaming from ear to ear, he drew the attention of the members of the House to the Speaker’s Gallery and proudly introduced his parents, who, it was obvious by their facial expressions, were bursting with pride. Indeed, their combined smiles could have lighted up the historic Chamber had there been a power failure.
Michael, at a much too young 52, will smile no more. But the memories he left behind will brighten many lives for years to come. Rest easy Michael Baker, for you have earned eternal peace.
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired broadcaster and journalist)
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