Live In the Moment
Posted: September 23, 2014
Once again life has shown me just how precious the moment of Now is. I arrived home from work last night only to receive a phone call from a good friend that a local gay icon had passed away. He had fallen from a ladder at his home and died. Once again it was a case of, “one moment here, and the next, gone.”
All we have are the moments that the days bring us. We’ve all heard those old sayings: don’t waste your time, live each moment as it comes, live now because that’s all we get, and they are all true and times like this demonstrate that truism.
Jim Deva was a pioneer and a true leader in the Vancouver LGBT Community. he was instrumental in starting Vancouver’s Little Sister’s Bookstore; and through his efforts he, along with his store manager Janine Fuller and his partner Bruce Smyth led the fight against censorship from the federal government. The battle ended up in the Canadian Supreme Court and Little Sister’s won, the federal government had to back down. Because of this the three of them became national trailblazers for LGBT rights. Newspaper articles were written, TV and radio interviews were given and a documentary about their fight was made called Little Sister’s Vs. Big Brother in 2002.
Today, all of us in the LGBT community are left feeling there’s a huge hole in our hearts. We will live through this and we will never forget Jim Deva, his smile, warmth and passion when it came to community affairs. Somewhere, somehow I know that Jim knows how we’re feeling and he would simply say, “Carry on, folks, carry on.” And while we carry on, let’s not forget the others in our diverse community who need our help, let’s not forget to tell those we love that we do love them, and most of all, let’s not forget to have fun along the way! Because, like this news with Jim, we never know if the next moment of Now will be our last.