“Dressed in the lion's skin, the ass spread terror far and wide.” - Jean de La Fontaine
It has been a tough week in Toronto with innocent people plowed down on our main street by a young man in a rental van. At this point there are 10 confirmed dead and more than a dozen injured. Incidents like this don't happen in our city. We watch this happen in other places and post our hashtags on Facebook and Twitter - #LondonStrong #PrayingForParis #MunichStrong ... We pride ourselves on our inclusive and tolerant culture, at times a bit too smug while convincing ourselves it could not happen here. And then it did. It happened within walking distance of my home in a very place where I had been walking just a couple days before. In a place I considered going to again the morning of the attack. There is a craft store there that I often frequent and I was out of the colour paint I wanted for a new project. But I had other things to do so I set aside my need to shop for paint for another day, almost as if God had whispered in my ear.
Monday was the most glorious of spring days, our first following a relentlessly brutal winter. People were anxious to be outside, to breathe in the air and feel the sun on their faces. It was a day that felt like nothing could happen to dent our happiness. I was shocked when I heard the news. And my prayers began, for those who were hurt and killed, for their families who may never have the chance to say goodbye, for those who witnessed horrors that will never be erased and then for the thing it was hard to speak out loud - dear God, please let this be the act of an ordinary madman and not the act of an Islamic terrorist. I know this last prayer may seem bizarre to others but not to some. I cannot be alone in praying that this horrible action would not feed hate and fear of others and retaliation against Muslims and minorities.
Watching news reports of the events on different stations, was telling. In the first hours, few details were given on the Canadian stations. No one would speculate on the ethnic origin of the driver, his religion or motive. It was hours before we even knew his name. I heard only words of unity, not a single word of hate expressed on the air. Politicians didn't jump in with their rhetoric though we are on the border of an election cycle. Our city truly went into wait and see mode. Yonge Street was cordoned off and people were asked to stay away from the area and in the main, they did. The news was not quite handled the same way by the international media. CNN commentators spoke of how slow the Canadians were being in giving them information about the driver, who was arrested without a single shot being fired. There were comments that he looked Middle Eastern, that the attack was typical of an ISIS inspired or engineered attack and that the driver was known to Toronto police. On-line, disinformation spread like wildfire on far-right sites. Then we all watched the footage of the driver being arrested. He didn't look Middle Eastern to me.
Two days later, we know that he is a twenty-five year old college student with mental health issues. He was not known to police. He is not affiliated with any group that presents a threat to our national security. We don't know what his ethnic origin is or whether or not he subscribes to any religious ideology and we don't care. He is a Canadian man who according to his elementary school classmates has always been socially awkward. There is some evidence that he is involved with a group of people who identify themselves as incels (involuntarily celibate) who are angry with women for rejecting them and with the men who are not rejected - sick and sad.
When it became known that this was not an act of terrorism, the international media soon lost interest. I guess there isn't much mileage to be gotten from an act that was driven by madness, that involved no guns. I, for one, am glad they have moved on. These are sad days for our city. We need to mourn in peace, away from the spotlight, away from the poison of the lies that feed division. We kept calm and carried on - helping our neighbours, embracing our humanity. This is Toronto. We are good and we are strong.
No comments:
Post a Comment