journal features

armed police in the streets

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Vancouver, 2002.07.25

Today I encountered something I've never seen before in Canada; two cops hurrying around the corner toward me with weapons in hand.

There's nothing quite like seeing a cop with a shotgun in hand giving you that cursory glance to see if you're his quarry. It happened just outside a bank, but there were firemen all around as well: I didn't stick around to see what was what. In all, I was quite pleased to see them; certainly better that than the Sydney version, where there are no cops even when you call them.

rand()m quote

Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account.

—John Gardner