A date of infamy

When the Japanese bombed,

Pearl Harbour,

on December 7 Th 1941,

FDR gave a speech,

of great emotion,

he said of December 7 Th,

that,

it was a date,

that would live in,

infamy.

In Canada,

we have a date,

which to me,

lives in infamy,

curiously,

that date is,

December 6 Th.

In 1989,

fourteen young women,

were gunned down by,

a madman,

in one of the country’s top,

engineering schools,

La Poly technique,

at the University of Montreal.

An act of hatred of women,

an act of calculated barbarism.

I will never forget,

that rainy early evening,

where I was,

when I heard,

what I felt,

the horror.

Women,

in my city,

my home.

The memory still makes me shudder.

(:

I remember every year,

I talk to people,

about it,

I write about it on my blog.

I never mention his name,

I never will,

that’s what people like that want,

immortality,

I grant him,

none.

My father was the one,

who said to me,

‘we should not mention, his name, he doesn’t deserve it, he deserves to rot in hell’

He was like that my dad,

very to the point,

frequently made a strong case,

he sure did in this one.

A few years ago,

a highly regarded,

Quebecois filmmaker,

made a film about the events,

I haven’t seen it,

I won’t.

I don’t doubt,

it’s validity,

as a film,

as art,

but,

I can’t,

I feel the wound,

still.

December 6 Th,

is also the date of,

the Halifax explosion,

1917.

where thousands of people died,

when a ship full of TNT,

which had collided with another ship,

and,

was ablaze,

was allowed to drift into,

the harbour,

without warning the population,

of the imminent danger.

Because of arrogance,

on the part of the British Admiralty,

because of cowardice,

on the part of a French sea captain,

wanton disrespect for human life,

and,

incompetence.

I noticed it was the same date,

on Sunday night,

mom and I watched a movie,

not very good,

but,

informative,

about the Halifax explosion.

I said to mom,

‘that is our date of infamy, isn’t it?’

December 6 Th,

a date to remember,

for all those,

lives of promise,

lost,

snuffed out,

for nothing,

but,

hate and ignorance,

greed and war mongering.

Later girls,

BB