The question “What do women want?” was answered years ago by Faith Popcorn. (Is that a great name, or what? It’s as though she played one of those games where you’re bestowed with your special fairy name. Maybe she played the Zen master name game: What’s your personal axiom? “Keep the faith.” What’s your favourite starchy carb that you’d be willing to give up for Lent? “Popcorn!”)
Men, in case you’re wondering, Popcorn’s answer to the above question is “relationships.”
I think she’s on to something here. Relationships—in all their messy, complicated, evolving forms—keep me turning the pages of a book or watching episode after episode on Netflix. And relationships are why I couldn’t put down 28 Seconds (2012) by former Ontario attorney general Michael Bryant. (On the book jacket copy, cabinet minister and attorney general are capitalized even though they are preceded by former. This doesn’t follow CP style; I can’t find a citation in Chicago.)
(Of course, Bryant’s spectacular fall from grace and subsequent recovery, detailed in the book, are part of the classic hero journey that never grows old—another reason I couldn’t put the book down. Bryant was a successful, pompous politician. There’s no lack of name-dropping here, making it tough for the book’s indexer (EAC member Marnie Lamb) to decide what was and what was not a mere passing mention.)
Bryant was involved in a road rage incident in 2009 with belligerent bike courier Darcy Sheppard, who died during the altercation. Be it Bryant’s relationship with his wife, with the bottle, with former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty, with other high-profile colleagues, or with Darcy Sheppard himself during those fateful 28 seconds, there is no shortage of potential relationship drama.
But throughout the book, I found myself wanting more from Bryant. I felt that his words lacked depth and failed to convey how his experience changed him. What did he feel? What did he learn?
And then I got to page 272, where the chapter on Darcy Sheppard begins (finally!). Bryant gives context to Sheppard’s rage by explaining Sheppard’s life circumstances. He gives humanity and understanding, where the media, at the time of the event, gave little.
Bryant also quotes Jean Vanier and writes about L’Arche, explaining how healing from “the desperate pursuit of false gods can be found only in meaningful relationships.” And Bryant acknowledges that “we are all no better and no worse than the other.”
I had to put down the book and exhale—and acknowledge that Bryant was on to something.
Relationships. They’re what we all want—and need.