They Are Watching


Emma & Molly pose with the Good Friday Road Race Easter Bunny

Mr. Bunny! Easter Bunny! Please stop, Mister Bunny, come back!"

There's a small voice calling from behind me. The conversation I'm having with a fellow runner is interrupted. I apologize to him and attend to more important business.

The voice is from a little girl being carried in her mother's arms and her desperate cries are directed at me. You see, I'm not just another guy in running shoes and a bib number. It's Good Friday, I'm participating in the club's five-kilometre race, I'm wearing a plush, white bunny suit and carrying a basket.

And to a certain young lady on the race route, I am the Easter Bunny.

I look into her believing eyes and who else could I be? In my best bunny voice and mustering my best bunny smile, I say hello and offer her a treat from the bottom of my basket. Her mom watches closely as I offer my furry paw and say good-bye to the Easter Bunny's adoring fan. I know it's not me that she's shaking hands with, I'm a fake, a stand in for the real thing. Not that it matters to this little girl, as far as she's concerned, she's just met the Big Bunny himself.

A few years ago I was talked into running the Good Friday 5k race in a bunny suit by Gloria Urwin, the running club's publicity director. She suggested that we do this to inject a spirit of fun into the races. Who am I to turn down an opportunity to generate a little publicity for the club and endure the arduous task of finishing last in a race?

So, the week before the race I shave off my beard and on the big day I let Gloria break out the face paint and make me up, more as a disguise than to turn this middle aged guy into a big rabbit. When she's done, I'm ready to have some fun.

There are the usual jokes about how long my ears are, how big my tail is and how hot I'm going to get. I make half-expected comments to the female club members, spoken in a dirty old man voice, ala Artie Johnson, "Want some candy little girl?"

What I didn't expect that first year were the reactions of the children. To these innocent souls, I wasn't some random goof in a bunny suit, I was the Easter Bunny and they were watching my every move.

I have the same reaction when wearing a Santa costume before, during and after the Jingle Bell Run. That was anticipated, but this was not.

Now that I knew, I had to model my behaviour to the role I had been chosen to play. What I say and do might be remembered the rest of their young lives. There is a power in the costumes we wear and as I am wont to say, "With ultimate cosmic power comes ultimate cosmic responsibility."

The same thing can be said when we wear our club colours. Saturday mornings, we are a very visible presence when we run as a group along North Shore and Plains Road. When we put on the club jackets and insignia, we identify ourselves as part of a group. It grants us a certain status in the local running community (she's one of those fast runners from Burlington) and it leaves a lasting impression on both the runners and non-runners we encounter.

Not only does the club reflect on it's members but the members also reflect on the club. Because of our association, our behaviours and performances become a part of the reputation of the club. That means when you wear the club jacket or singlet, what you say and do can leave a powerful and lasting impression on what the club represents to those persons you encounter.

This is especially true when we volunteer at any of the club races. Our interaction with the race participants not only colour their impression of the race and its success or failure but that of the running club as well. If we aren't careful, the sea of red we wear can colour us all with the actions of one person.

When you take off the club clothing, you still leave lasting impressions whether you want to or not. To quote Shakespeare, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players." Your audience is all around you, the people that you interact with every day. It's not just your children and grandchildren that look to you as a role model. By just living an active lifestyle, there will be people that you inspire and who look to you as an example. You may not intend to, but your behaviour and actions will leave impressions that echo through the people you touch.

It doesn't matter if you wear a bunny suit, running shoes or a suit and tie, you never know who looks up to you as a hero. So, if you are going to be someone's hero, you better start acting like one.

By Mark G. Collis

Revised: April 5, 2005.