Day 295 -- National sadness

Where do I even begin today? I was working in meetings and lectures until mid-afternoon when the custodian noted the news. I checked with someone who had the CBC live feed on and had to take a very deep breath.

Once home and able to view the news feeds and see events as they had unfolded in Ottawa today, tears flowed. I know someone who has served as the guard of honour at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. That made this really hit home. Hearing gunfire in the Centre Block and know it was just under the Peace Tower filled my heart with sadness. Hearing that two public events with Nobel Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai had to be cancelled gave me pause. Adding today's attacks with the one earlier this week in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec made this feel very real.

At one time, I heard a reporter tell us that they had just learned a US network had released the name of the gunman, read the name aloud and then said they were working on confirming this name. During events like this, many reporters seem to jump to hyperbole and speak their fears out loud  -- forgetting their job at this time is to provide facts as they arrive and are checked. To do anything else is irresponsible journalism. Certainly moving directly to laying blame without full understanding of the naissance of each situation is misleading at best. Canada has dealt with terror and radical attacks several times, despite what media reporters are saying to fill all the time between real facts. The October Crisis (FLQ uprising) was the first to come to mind, followed by the gunman in the Quebec National assembly, the female engineering students killed at L'ecole Polytechnique, shootings at Concordia University and Dawson College, and the Alberta and New Brunswick shootings of multiple RCMP officers. So this is not new to us. The location may be new. The potential reason behind the attacks of this week may be new. But make no mistake, the type of event is not new.

While we sort out what these events mean for security on Parliament Hill and surrounding military offices, we should take time to think of the families and colleagues of those who have been killed. Today's song is for these soldiers. While this is the usual ending for this blog, it seems a bit odd today -- Enjoy!


Warren Zevon -- Keep me in your heart for a while