16th Anniversary of Montreal Massacre

Sixteen years sure seems like a long time. Yet the repercussions of one man's unfortunate actions are still felt, and certainly deserve our reflection and consideration at this time. December 6, 1989, Marc Lepine shot fourteen women because they had been guilty of having had their lives shaped by two little X chromasomes. This sadly misled dude believed that half of humanity was wrong to think they deserved the same respect, money-earning power, job opportunities, and safety as its male counterpart. Sure, i'd like to pity the guy for holding such a pathetic, unenlightened view of humanity, but it's not easy to do when he has acted so sickeningly atrociously that he has become a symbol for all the inequity, injustice, and violence which is still perpetrated upon women every day.

Being a man, I know I'm super lucky that I can walk alone in dark streets and alleys and feel pretty safe. It saddens me that I sometimes feel I need to keep a "safe distance" away from women on the sidewalk so I don't creep them out. Why would a woman be creeped out by cute little ol' me? Hell, because us men have got a bad bad history of assaulting women: girlfriends, wives, or strangers. It's scary when I think about the number of women who I personally know who've been assaulted in one way or another. If you contrast that with the number of men I know who've been assaulted because they're men, the conclusion's as obvious as you'd expect it to be. As Dec 6 rolls our way, let's think a little about how violence against women continues, how it affects us, and what we could do to prevent it. Let's also just remember that we're all human, and we all have some work to do in treating others/ourselves as such.

Ok. And if you wish to commemorate the time when Msr Lepine inadvertently redefined and refocussed the feminist movement, there's a couple things going down. At Vancouver Community College 8am to 4pm there's a candllight memorial. And at the Vancouver Pacific there's some sort of candle vigil set up. I will update this if more events arise.

Peace.