making dreams come true

When he was 9 a brain tumor almost took him from the world. At 17 he continues to be present, to do and to be all that he can. Life can be a challenge. Balance. Memory. Attention span are sometimes affected.

What isn’t affected is this young man’s spirit. He lives in the key of life.

Earlier this year, he heard about The Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. And he decided he was going to do it. Raise the money. Raise awareness. And Ride. He’s raised the prerequisite, and over, $2600. He’s done the money part. It’s the riding part that’s the challenge.

Riding a bike in a large crowd, 100 km a day for 2 days, connecting to a large community, being part of a big event — all of these things are new to this young man with such incredible spirit. Crowds are challenging. Traffic distracting.

How will he do it? How will he train in enough time to be able to take part in the ride?

Determined. Committed. Convinced he will, he plans for his trip. He’s got the goal down. It’s the ‘how am I going to do it part’ that’s missing.

Enter his next door neighbour.

AJ is an avid mountain biker/rider. He’s completed many epic bike rides including the gruelling seven-day BC Bike Race from Vancouver to Vancouver Island to Whistler. AJ rides.

AJ won’t be riding in the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year. He and his wife CS will be hiking Mont Blanc. (Though they have thought about rescheduling their trip, it’s a logistical and expensive challenge.) While he may not be physically present, AJs heart will be on the ride. His heart will be with a 17-year-old rider who wants to give back to fight a disease that did not beat him down. AJ has been training with this young man for several months now. He’s even built a bike just for him. Created a ‘new bike’ out of old parts to give Shay a fighting chance at completing the race.

I hear this story and I wonder, does he know how amazing he is?

Because he is. Amazing. Just hearing about his guts, his determination, his conviction inspires me. Just hearing about his parents commitment to help him reach his goal makes me want to ride beside him and cheer him on. He doesn’t see limitations. He only sees possibility.

And hearing about how a bike, a race and a goal have connected a young man and his neighbour inspires me.

It is in all of us to make a difference, to connect to people around us in ways we never thought possible to help them reach their dreams. Like AJ and the training program he and Shea, the young man, have created together. It doesn’t matter what the conditions outside, they stick to their schedule. If it’s raining, AJ will set the bikes up in the garage. And if it’s sunny, he’ll ride alongside of him ensuring he stays focused on the road.”

Like life, climbing onto a bike and setting a goal to ride the distance can be hard for all of us.

But no matter the challenges, Shea is determined to reach his goal. He always gets on his bike and rides. He has a dream and he’s riding towards it.

May we all ride like this young man. May we all know what it means to have a dream, and be committed to seeing it through to the finish line.

I heard a story last night about a young boy with courage, about parents whose love is expanding the possibilities for their son and a man with heart.

And in its telling, I was made different. In its telling I was moved and inspired. In its telling I was reminded of the capacity of the human spirit to be great, to be magnificent, to shine.

Thank you Shea for shining so brightly. Thank you everyone for keeping the dream of a young man alive and reminding us all it isn’t important how we ride, what matters most is that we ride.

I was there when he took his last breath. I held his hand and waited in anticipation of an exhalation that never came. And in that one final breath in, the life-force left his body and James A. Bannerman was gone.

James was a client of the homeless shelter where I worked. Just after joining the team, I started an art program. One day, a box of throw-away cameras arrived in my office and I gave them to clients with the request they take pictures of their world. James was one of the ones who agreed to participate. From then on, a camera was never far from his sights. Whenever he wandered the streets of Calgary doing what he did everyday, picking up bottles along the riverbank, he would take photos. “Bottle pickings my civic duty,” he used to tell me when I’d pass him as I walked into work in the mornings. “I’m helping keep the city clean.”

Photography became his way of life.

That little box of a camera became a conduit for him to express the light and darkness of the city all around him. He became indefatigable in his ‘picture-taking’ as he liked to call it. Homeless for over 15 years when he received that first camera, picture-taking became his passion and, he laughed, maybe even his retirement plan. He became so immersed in his art that eventually, he saved up enough money from his odd jobs and bottle collecting to buy himself a digital camera, and then a laptop. And his picture-taking became an insatiable desire to express his awe of the world around him. Whenever we held art shows James would always turn up. A man of view words, he struggled to connect through words to those who passed his booth. He didn’t need words to speak. His photos spoke for him and to the hearts of those who purchased his work and gave it a home.

And then, cancer came and within months he was gone.

But not his photography. Not his view of the world he inhabited that he captured tirelessly where ever he went throughout our city. He didn’t take photos of people. He only took photos of buildings and bridges and water flowing in the river and frozen footprints in ice and the patterns of a manhole cover and an image of a street through the broken glass of a bus shelter.

James A. Bannerman had an eye for beauty and next week, on the day that would have been his fifty-fourth birthday James A. Bannerman’s first solo exhibit will open.

Yesterday, I met with the curator of the exhibit from The New Gallery (TNG) and two individuals who are part of hosting this year’s inaugural, This is My City Festival to finalize the selection of photos that will appear in the exhibit. As we sorted through Jame’s photos, looking for just the right one’s to include in the Plus 15 TNG Window Gallery that will be their home for the next two months, I shared stories of James and his indefatigable spirit and felt connected once again to this man who touched my heart in so many ways.

James would be pleased. His photos are out of retirement.

This is a difference worth making. This is a difference I have held in my heart since I sat and held Jame’s hand and listened to the last intake of his breath rattling through his lungs in the early morning hours of December 8, 2009. This is a dream I’ve breathed life into throughout the intervening days, a dream other’s have joined with me in bringing to light.

I am happy and I am grateful.

Namaste.

PS: For those in Calgary, or visiting over the next few months, the exhibit will be located at the Plus 15 at Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts — http://www.thenewgallery.org/exhibitions/plus15-window/the-compassionate-eye-of-james-bannerman-2012-02-01