Ready or not, there is no stopping the unimaginable.
Ed, my neighbor next door, didn't have a ready comment for the killing of a reservist and the gun fire on Parliament Hill on Oct. 22, in Ottawa. I have never found him to be short of an opinion before, but the events of that day left him without any quick or easy comments, like most of us.
Corporal Nathan Cirillo was one of the two ceremonial guards stationed at the Canadian War Memorial in Ottawa that Wednesday, when a gunman shot and killed him in cold blood. The same gunman died later in a shootout in The Centre Block of Parliament.
It is hard to believe a soldier could be shot down for standing in honor at our National War Memorial. Prime Minister Harper called the event a terrorist attack. Ed and I discussed that the terrorist way is not the Canadian way. It goes against our Canadian spirit, when another gladly kills the unsuspecting or cuts off heads of kidnapped victims. It is a detestable thing to bomb marathon runners. Ed and I, often have big differences of opinion but allow that neither one of us is right. We both agree the worst kind of enemy is the two-faced, sneaky enemy who has been plotting to kill others for his gain or glory now and in the next life. We like to believe people are good, but there is a lot of proof to say it isn't necessarily so. People prove again and again they hate, lie, murder and steal for what they perceive as good for themselves.
The Bible speaks of what is detestable to God. "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness that pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers."
I believe my life is a gift from God, and should be ended by Him. Ed believes his life came from his parents, but no one has the right to end his life by murder. Innocent people get murdered as in the case of Corporal Cirillo. Murder and killing begin with hate or anger that develops into a murder in a rage of temper or into killing after premeditation. Many of us, as Canadians live by the basic rule do to others as you would have them do to you. We don't kill because we do not want to be killed. "Terrorists" want to kill and see getting killed themselves as to their glory.
In Canada we have sought to respect each other, and share this beautiful land in peace and freedom. We try to encourage the best behavior out of each other. We have built our nation on the rule of law and good order for all. There has always been and will always be those that are at work to destroy what doesn't suit them. They act to destroy in anger, hate, lies, theft and murder, and want like-minded people to join them. The Canadian way is to honor other people and to live with them in peace. We seek to love not kill our neighbor.
