Knowing who we are by what we choose in a difficult time

It's been a rough week for Canadians. We were shocked out of complaints about the stock market and the weather by a gunman who killed a young soldier and then walked into the Parliament buildings and began to shoot.

As such things go, we were lucky. It could have been much, much worse.

The Canadians on site were calm and caring and clear about doing what needed to be done. The people who represented us in this crisis were chosen (MPs and staff and military and police) and they were random - people who were going about their lives and found themselves in the middle of something terrible and frightening.

There are people who say that things will have to change now.

I would say that we are doing something very right. Read this article and know that in a crisis, we hold up.  Look at the pictures of our leaders marching back into the House of Commons and hugging. Under all the noise and venom, there's something pretty right going on here when we respond to a crisis this way.

None of us know how we would react to a situation like this until we are tested. The Canadians who represented all Canadians this week were awesome.

Sometimes, hope looks like people who drop their briefcases and their biases and practice kindness in a time of terror.




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