It’s a simple set-up and a simple message for Paul Jenkinson.
“You are not alone,” reads the title on his small A-frame sign — and he means it.
Jenkinson is making his way across Canada — from east coast to west coast — just to listen to people.
The retired social worker puts out his small table, two lawn chairs and his sign and greets people passing by, and many of them stop to talk.
He made a stop in Kingsville and at Point Pelee last week and says he’s encouraged by the number of people who will just stop to talk.
His goal is to let the people do the talking and nothing is off limits. Then he gives them sage advice or just lends his ear to their worries.
“My goal is not to solve their problem, but to make a heart-to-heart connection,” he says.
This free service has him dubbed “The Listening Man” as he makes his way from coast to coast, stopping in big and small towns along the way.
He recently spent six days in the Ottawa area and has drawn national media attention on CBC and CTV.
He tries to make connections everywhere he goes and plans his trip according to offers he may have for lodging.
It just so happens he has relatives in this area, so finding a place to stay was not an issue.
He is a graduate of the University of Windsor, so he’s familiar with the area and had spent time at Point Pelee in the 1970s.
At other stops along the way, he usually manages to find someone to stay with, but says that’s not always the case.
“I’ve done about 90 stops since leaving Truro, Nova Scotia, and have had to pay for accommodations about six of those nights,” he says. “It’s a testament to the generosity of the Canadian people.
While he says some people walk by with an inquisitive look on their face, most people will greet him when he says hello, and many do stop to talk.
Paul concentrates on making human contact in this polarizing world with his heart-to-heart connection, just by talking.
He wonders if we’ve become habitually isolated coming out of the pandemic, making it hard for people to talk to strangers.
At about 7 pm on Thursday, July 31, Paul Jenkinson picked up his sign, folded up his chairs and left Point Pelee feeling good about the people he had met, and will eventually make his way north, planning to stay on Manitoulin Island by the end of this month, attend a family wedding and then head west along the Trans-Canada Highway.
He expects to reach the west coast by the end of October.
