Resisting the Urge

Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow." - Mary Anne Radmacher

Like the rest of Torontonians, I was shocked on Saturday night to learn of the shooting that had taken place in the food court of the Eaton's Centre during the dinner hour.  One man killed.  Six wounded including a thirteen-year-old boy who is still in critical condition with a head wound.  It's terrifying really and unimaginable that such an event could happen in our city.  Toronto the Good didn't feel so good in those moments.

The news media interviewed a whole host of people - some that were there when the shooting happened and some that were not.  The most common and understandable sentiment expressed was that our city is no longer safe and people would not be going to the Eaton Centre anymore or allowing their children to do so.  It's not hard to figure out where that sentiment comes from.  Fear is a powerful emotion.

I was thinking about the many Friday evenings Merv and I have been at the Eaton Centre at dinner time.  It is where we meet to have a bite before we attend the theatre if our tickets are at The Ed Mirvish Theatre on Yonge.  We were there just a couple of weeks ago, not at the food court but at a restaurant in the mall very close to where the shootings occurred.  My first thought in hearing the news was that I won't be going there again.  But the thought was fleeting. I have, after all, lived long enough to know that bad things can happen anywhere.  

The young boy who is now fighting for his life at Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital was visiting from Port Hope.  Port Hope is a small town and at times like this, we tend to think small town life is safer than big city life.  But that surely was not the case for  nine-year-old Woodstock school girl, Tori Stafford who was abducted and murdered or for the Tweed Ontario victims of Russell Williams.  Bad things happen everywhere - big cities, small towns alike.

The challenge for us all is to resist the urge to shrink our lives to keep ourselves safe because doing so doesn't make us safe, it makes us prisoners.  Next time our tickets take us to The Ed Mirvish Theatre, Merv and I will again meet in the bar at Greenjeans.  I may though, make my martini a double.