Dramatic times!

It has been a difficult and challenging week. Those of you not living in Canada may be unaware that last week, on two separate occasions, in two different cities, a member of the Canadian military was attacked and killed. On Monday in Montreal, Patrice Vincent was run down with a car driven by a deranged man; on Wednesday in Ottawa, Nathanial Cerillo was gunned down as he guarded the Canadian War Memorial at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, just a few hundred meters from the House of Parliament. The shooter then proceeded to race into the Parliament Building, trying to find someone to shoot. The Sergeant at Arms shot him just a few steps outside the Parliamentary Library.

As it turns out, neither of the killers was a representative of any Islamic Jihadi movement, although initial reports seemed to indicate that this was the case. Both men had contact with a mosque at some point, but neither could be thought of as Muslim. Despite this, there were incidents, here and there, of anti-Islamic rage. A modest mosque in Cold Lake, Alberta, home of the Canadian Forces base that had dispatched fighter planes to attack ISIS in Iraq, was defaced with hostile slogans, and had a window broken.

One of the many touching follow up actions took place here, where the day after the attack, a large group of non-Muslim neighbours arrived at the mosque with buckets and scrub brushes and restored the mosque to its original state, making sure their Muslim neighbours knew that they all despised such racist and anti-religious actions. Similar acts took place in other parts of the country, as Canadians came together in a show of solidarity and patriotism that included folks of all races and religions.

In the midst of all this, I continued my routine, walking, swimming and working out in the water, maintaining the discipline of recovery as before. Many of us wonder if last weeks action will encourage our very conservative Conservative government to bring in laws and regulations that will place heavy restrictions on Canadian’s freedoms. Such changes might have no impact on my recovery program, but would have an impact on my state of mind and soul. In the meantime, I will swim at 6:00 AM tomorrow morning as usual, my own affirmation that life continues as before.

In this, I seem to be in step with a large percentage of Canadian citizens, upset and enraged at such cowardly murders of our military, and at the attack on the home of our democratic government, but resolute in the conviction that such actions will not reduce us to fear, but will, on the contrary, urge us to pride and courage, and a desire to live our lives as before, in freedom.

My days this week will partly devoted to preparations for my travels east to visit children and grandchildren. As usual, I am resolved to pack more efficiently and with fewer “things” since I will be paying for a checked bag!