On the night of Oct. 3,2015 a tragic event occurred at a local St.Johns establishment that has reverberated throughout the province of Newfoundland. A fireman, friend and father Larry Wellman was fatally shot while trying to stop an armed robbery. In the aftermath, the theme of many public and private conversations has been one of warning, “Its only money – don’t try and be a hero” This way of thinking is not only a disgrace to the memory of Larry Wellman but it is also a false axiom that is poisoning our culture and fueling our crime rate.

Larry Wellman is a hero. He stood up for strangers when he saw an act of violence against them. More to the point, he stood up to them at a huge risk to his own personal well being. Is it worth doing for money? Of course not. However, we all understand intuitively that Larry never did this to protect the money – it wasn’t even his to loose. Larry Wellman stood up for the fellow Newfoundlanders around him who were afraid. He stood up to an immediate threat. He sacrificed his life, if not for a conscious understanding, for a subconscious understanding of community.

Everyday we see armed robberies in the news. Gas stations, bars and even neighborhood establishments like the recent robbery of the Breens Convenience on Portugal Cove Road. We see random stabbings downtown and acts of violence against the public that makes many of the residents in our great province wonder what happened to our small town values. Unfortunately, it is as likely that the part of our small town values that has changed is the values of the ‘good guys’ as it is the values of the ‘bad guys’.

We, as Newfoundlanders, have assimilated into our culture many of the Big City beliefs we have seen on TV. The belief that our neighbours are strangers. The belief that a store being robbed is ‘their’ problem and that the random person in the street is a threat and should be avoided. These are all beliefs that are not ours by nature but rather by programming. The average Newfoundlander thinks we feel this way because of the violence in the news and the increasing danger in our public places. However, it is as likely that the violence in our streets is because we avoid our neighbours and foresake our new, bigger community.

The small town values Newfoundlanders reminisce upon are just that – values of small communities. We must remember that in most of these small towns there was very little ability to outsource justice and policing to government authorities such as RNC or RCMP. While they could come and help long term, immediate problems had to be handled by members of the community. The fact that the majority of the community was always watching their surroundings and felt it their duty to speak or act against an issue was the cornerstone of those values.

The farther we drift from the other people in our the community the more likely it is that a mentally ill or drug addicted person can view us as strangers. The random acts of violence become more prevalent as we become more random to each other. While violence will probably always occur, we all understand that it is much more difficult for most people, in any situation, to behave violently towards someone they feel connected to. So when we pull back from our community and our province what is the result? The result is violence against that community.

We see an ever growing police presence in our Province. The call for more policing is constant. Everytime these acts happen against the public we cry for bigger budgets and tougher laws. However, if we keep hiring more police yet we keep having more crime then why would we think this is a solution? If we as Newfoundlanders despise the ‘big city values’ we attribute the crime to, why would we expect their solutions to fix it?

The solution is for us to turn public places, neighbourhood businesses and dark side streets into a community again. To do that we as Newfoundlanders must participate in those places. A criminal knows there isn’t a police officer in that store, they already checked. They also don’t think anybody in or around that store will interfere – because we are teaching ourselves and our kids not to! It’s out of good intentions but we all know what road that paved. The key is not to stand by when a member of our province acts poorly – it’s to stand up!

Larry Wellmans passing is tragic, but we Newfoundlanders have learned from tragedy countless times in the past. There are only loses when we do not take from it a lesson. While we stand at our watercoolers and talk about how great Larry was lets take it a step further. Larry did a very Newfoundland thing, he stood up for others regardless of the cost. So lets not tell how great he was in order to condemn the killer, lets tell how great he was in order to motivate those of us who aren’t killers. Lets tell of his act with pride – a fellow Newfoundlander who is a hero. Lets not tell his story because he died – lets tell it because we want to live. 

#IAMNEWFOUNDLAND: Defining The Self Image of the Modern Newfoundlander is a weekly blog, with a new article every Wednesday, that focuses on the modern Newfoundland experience and how we interpret it into the greater tapestry of our Self Image as a people and a culture. Visit our blog on our website (www.iamnewfoundland.com), Facebook or Twitter (@IAmNewfoundland)

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