-July 2008 I sit on the corner of St-Catherine and Peel, in no hurry to run away from the black cloud overhead. Two months ago, I remember the situation was different. The sky was bright and clear. But I guess in a different sense that black cloud was still present and lurking over me. I sat on the same corner while a vagabond with a tin jar vocalized everything I once stood for. He paid no attention to me, and I did my very best to do the same. As he sung and strummed the strings on his guitar, emotions I did not have the courage to recognize began to surface. I had adopted the ideals of the people I used to rant against, and I did not want to believe it. Fucking to love, exercising for a numbing effect and snorting to forget. [I tip-toed and stretched and stretched and stretched my arms to reach something unattainable. I could have tried forever but would have never had it. Luckily I was not completely numb, and felt the pain from my over-stretched arms.] And now I sit on the same corner, merely a shadow, I think of this stranger and the impact he left with his words. How a stranger can passively and calmly sit by, hoping he might capture someone off guard with a single song. And how he did. And now I sit on the same corner, merely a cowardly shadow, unable to interfere the way he did. But more than anything, I 'd like to grab anyone and everyone who passes by and I'd like to shake them and see the life spring into their eyes.