No making a homeless hero happy

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/05/2009 (5699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As feel-good stories go, it was a great one. At least, it was in the beginning.

A homeless man dives into the frigid, fast-flowing Red River and rescues a young man who has accidently fallen from a bridge.

Our humble hero is given the mayor’s medal for valour and becomes the toast of the town and a warm fuzzy for CBC Newsworld.

But that was yesterday’s story.

Today’s isn’t so soft and cuddly.

* * *

It was around six-o’clock Wednesday night when Faron Hall reached my cellphone. The homeless hero, as he’s been tagged, was returning a message I’d left with one of the people in St. Boniface who look out for him when he sleeps on a park bench or under the Provencher Bridge.

There was some good news.

Faron wasn’t homeless anymore.

And he sounded sober, which wasn’t the way he sounded three weeks ago when he first faced the national media wolf pack two days after his heroics.

He said Mayor Sam Katz had arranged for a room for him at the Marlborough Hotel.

This is the same mayor who gave him his medal of valour and the same Sam Katz who — after Faron asked if he could see a single Goldeyes game — gave him season tickets to the baseball club he owns. Oh yes, and a Goldeyes jacket he can wear around the city.

As for the mayor’s other arranged gift — the hotel stay — Faron said it ends today.

That’s two days before he has an appointment to sign a lease with Manitoba Housing.

But there was some bad news with the good. Faron said the media were still hounding him.

Banging on his hotel door.

"I’ve had to change rooms four times."

Apparently, Faron didn’t consider me one of the media hounds, because he was happy to meet for breakfast.

But when I arrived in the Marlborough lobby Friday, it was apparent Faron’s dry-out spell had ended.

"I drank last night," he said. "Because it was so overwhelming. People were telling me, ‘don’t drink no more don’t drink no more.’ Why are people telling me ‘don’t do this?’"

But there’s also the stress of going from being ignored or invisible, to not being able to go anywhere without being recognized and celebrated.

And the feeling that he’s being exploited by the media.

Or at least most of it.

The CBC being one exception.

He has a soft spot for CBC reporter Sheila North Wilson.

"She’s aboriginal, you know," Faron said.

As is Faron, of course.

Last week, the CBC was invited to Faron’s 45th birthday, where the young man he saved was the other guest of honour.

I asked Faron why he didn’t think the CBC is exploiting him.

"I don’t know. To be honest, I’m trying to help that reporter, Sheila North (Wilson). But you know what, I don’t want her to exploit me. I told her that. In private. I told her, ‘don’t try to exploit me.’"

"I’m not a stupid man," Faron added.

I asked how he defined exploitation.

"Exploitation? In my opinion it’s when you use somebody else’s good deeds or somebody’s else’s advantages to your own gain. You use them for your own gain."

"Sure I saved the kid," he continued. "Yeah, I did something good. But I had media attention. I gave them what they want… Now it’s exploitation."

"I’m not a stupid man," he said again.

Strangely, what seemed to anger him the most was something the media didn’t report on much.

How all he really wanted was a bus ticket to Sioux Valley so he could visit John Hapa, the 81-year-old father he hadn’t seen in nine years.

Which he eventually did.

But only for an hour.

He said the uncles who drove him there had to get back to Winnipeg.

Faron summed it up this way.

"I gave the media their chance. I gave them three weeks of my life. And all I ask is to see one ball game, and just a bus ticket to see my dad."

One gets the feeling reporters and camera carriers aren’t the only people with whom he’s angry.

* * *

Tonight, Faron Hall is scheduled to be at the Goldeyes’ ball park to throw out the first ball in the second home game of the season.

I forgot to ask him if he thinks that’s exploitation, too, but somehow I think I know the answer.

After all, Faron Hall is not a stupid man.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca