I remember when ... E'cole Polytechnique ...

Today, I came returned to the Court of Presbytery from a glorious sunny afternoon to the chair of our Presbytery offering up in prayer the students and staff and families emeshed in the horrific events unfolding today in Montreal ...
Another crazed lunatic (I would say a gun man, but such a person is unworthy of being called a man ...) has gone into a school - a place of learning - a place of discovery - and gunned down innocents and innocence.

As I heard the news the only words that escaped my lips were - "not again ..."

I remember when E'cole Polytechnique happened ... I remember when I heard the news that December 6th ... I remember listening to the news - the stories ... and fearing for the safety of all university students ... for that day I was still a student myself in University in Hamilton ...

Our day started like any other. We were clustered around one of our regular tables. We had the day's newspapers out, we had our backpacks and briefcases spread around us, and we had picked up our morning coffee ...

"Did you hear about the lunatic in Montreal?"

"Yeah," we gasped, and we wondered what kind of a whacko does something like this ... it was in the coming hours that we saw the malevolence of his crime ... not just any victims - women. Not just any women, but those who were among the vanguard - successful, intelligent, beautiful women ...

Evil visited among us that day ... evil visits among us many days ... evil comes in violence against bodies, spirits, against persons and communties ... evil visits in many forms, and when it comes I still find myself breathless ... I still cry out into the cosmos: "WHY ?"

On December 6th, each year I pause to remember ... and to look into the eyes of my beautiful daughters and say - "I will do all I can to protect you from violence ..."

On September 13th ... today ... I heard the news and I moved through my day with a heavy heart, not because this tragedy touched me personally, but because this tragedy, like that at E'cole Polytechnique and a town called Taber, reminds us that angry, hurting, malevolent people are capabale of horrible actions ... I wept because I want to protect my children and my family from such violence ... and it might simply be impossible ...

Tonight I weep bitter tears for those who suffer so senselessly ... but I boldly hold a candle in the darkness and know that in time Good will triumph over such evil ... in time the light will push back the darkness ... in time ...