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| Grace and Ish Naboulsi, right, with the help of longtime friend Craig Styles, raised $282,000 to thank the University Hospital for helping Grace with a heart ailment. PHOTO by Nick Lees |
More news, views and all kinds of stuff from Edmonton Sun columnist Cam Tait
Tuesday, 20 August 2013
Wednesday's Cam 'n Eggs with Grace and Ish Naboulsi, and Craig Styles
GOOD MORNING!
Tea With Tait — The Gretzky Tales - Part V — "Have one for me"
(It's been fun, sharing my stories with Wayne Gretzky over the past few days. Here's the last instalment.)
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| Wayne as coach |
I see Wayne the odd time
now when he comes to Edmonton.
One of the most amazing
things to me about Wayne is how he always encourages people to look to the
future.
Whenever we had a chat
at the morning skate of a game, he would end by saying: “You’re coming to the
game tonight, right? I’ll see you after the game.”
And he would. It
wouldn’t be for very long because he had a plane to catch. But right before he
left the rink, he would always say
“I’ll find you when we are in town next.”
And he always did. His
time was so restricted he often did not have time for a quick hand shake and
hello. But he always did that.
I’ll never forget in
December of 2008 when the Phoenix Coyotees were in Edmonton to play the
Edmonton Oilers. I was on the bottom of Rexall Place near the Phoenix dressing
room and watched the team walk under the stands on to the ice. With his hands
in his pocket, Wayne followed the team out and, minutes before the game, probably
had a million thoughts. He saw me, stopped and shook my hand.
“Cam, how are you?
Everything OK?” he asked. “It’s game time but God bless.”
In the winter of 2002,
Kevin Lowe had me phone him before every hockey game Canada played at the Salt
Lake Winter Olympics. (Wayne and Kevin were part of the management team.) The
night before Canada met the Americans in the gold medal game, I made my call.
Kevin took it and said someone wanted to say hello.
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| Joey Moss |
One of Wayne’s special
friends is Joe Moss, who has Downs Syndrome and can be difficult to understand
at times.
Kevin handed Wayne his
cell phone.
“Hi Gretz. How are you?”
I asked when I recognized his voice.
“Joey!” Wayne exclaimed,
thinking I was Moss. “How nice of
you to call.”
And, he was serious.
“Sorry, Gretz. It’s
Tait.”
There was a long pause
at the end.
“Well, you’ve been
drinking, haven’t you? Have one for me.”
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| Wayne, Bill Comrie, Glen Sather and myself at the Northlands in 1999 in Edmonton PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR PREVIOUS PARTS OF THE SERIES |
Tuesday's Camburger: A hateful letter challenges us all
I have lived with cerebral palsy all my life, use a
wheelchair, and had the priceless
support from my family and community around me as a young boy. That’s why the
recent story of Brenda Millson and her grandson Max extremely disappoints me
and has me very, very concerned. Max is 13 years old and has autism. Ms.
Millson had an anonymous letter delivered to her in Newcastle, Ont. suggesting
the family either leave the neighborhood or Max … well, you read the letter
below.
This type of behavior is sad, on so many levels. It is also
darn right scary for people with disabilities to have people who have such
attitudes. Horrifying, in fact. And it lends itself to ask countless questions:
what would cause someone to do this; do we need more public awareness campaigns,
starting with government and the non-profit organizations representing
disability, challenging and remember to include people with disabilities; do we
need to provide better support systems to include people with disabilities in
communities, creating even more understanding; do we take a deep look at
ourselves and re-examine our own
beliefs; do we …?
I feel terrible for Max and his family. In an ever-increasing
population it is indeed a shame we, as a society, have not embraced one another
more—despite our abilities and disabilities. I am hopeful, though, this is an
isolated incident will create discussion and education. In the end, the community around Max will support him
and give him everything he need to
succeed. I have faith it people. I speak from experience.
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