The Sorrow, the Shame, and the Struggle

It was a cold, grey, afternoon in Montreal.

There was snow on the ground, and freezing rain in the trees.

At the school in the shadow of the Mountain, it was the last day before the holiday break.

Until, without warning, everything changed forever...



Twenty-one years ago. Fourteen women dead. Killed just because they were women. 

For decent Canadians it's a day of sorrow.For Stephen Harper's misogynist Cons it's just another day of shame.

"The reason I came to this was because the Conservatives were not part of it. If they would have been part of it, I would not have come."

"I don't think they have any right to commemorate Dec. 6 because they've done everything they can to destroy one of the main good things that came out of the tragedy, which is the gun control law."

For me, one of the few good things that happened this year was that we were able to save the gun registry. And preserve the precious legacy of those poor murdered women.

Because as Sabina Becker at News of the Restless reminds us, it's not good enough just to mourn them. Every day is their day. And the struggle continues. 

You can run us down with horses, or gun us down with Rugers--we are still here. You can mouth platitudes while slyly trying to take away what we have won, but we won't let you. We are onto you. We reject your "respect" and your "appropriate" tokenism. We are still grieving, still raging and still fighting, because deep down in our blood, we know we are not equal yet.

And we are not going the hell away.

Yup. The struggle continues. I'm just an ordinary guy, with all the strengths and strutting weaknesses of my gender. Sometimes I can be great... on a bike. Sometimes I'm ridiculous. And I still get into too many fights.

But I hate guns. I believe in a kinder, gentler world where EVERYONE is equal. I won't be free until my sisters are.

So every day is their day.

And I will REMEMBER...