The cannons will fall silent, and no one shall kneel before them anymore.

Today is a day of remembrance for the fourteen female students shot to death at the École Polytechnique de Montréal nineteen years ago. Today is a day of reflection on our past sins so that we not repeat them, of the harsh realities faced by women at the hands of the men who seek to dominate them. Today is a day of solemn remonstration against the use of violent means, not only upon women, but anyone.

Today, I was reminded we have a mountain of work to do.

For those who may not be aware, there is a candlelight vigil this evening in downtown Toronto at 18:00 - see www.womenwontforget.org for particulars. In the interest of generating awareness for this event, I posted this information on a local message board only to be met with some of the most appalling remarks in rebuttal. Sure, their comments seemed petty and juvenile - these were various "woman" jokes plucked on female efficacy from the web - but having more of an appreciation for the experiences of womanhood now than I did but a few years ago, I cannot easily let said comments slide, especially on a day such as this. Most arresting, I found, was a comment saying something along the lines of "Domestic abuse: so she doesn't have to be told twice." I cannot find the words to describe how unsettling it was to read this.

Even more bewildering was the lack of defense from female users in this particular forum - I received one response from a young woman who admonished my raising serious issues in a forum frequented by so many immature people bent on satisfying an insatiable need to crap all over anything and everything. While she raised a valid point, I cannot condone silence because it means this so-called "immaturity" will prevail. Secondly, I question whether this is due to "immaturity" on the part of these users for two reasons: one, the respondents in question are all of legal voting age, thus they are endowed with the responsibility of selecting our government, though one might argue that said responsibility doesn't necessarily advance an individual across the "maturity" threshold (whatever that may be), which brings me to the second reason, that these remarks are made by men of all ages, so are these grown men "immature"? is there such a thing as "maturity"? is the need for brutal dominion simply a sign of "immaturity"? (This makes me wonder why certain political parties can win elections so easily.)

I don't know what else to say on the matter at hand. I don't want to believe this world to be a fetid shit hole because of the feelings of a select few, but these feelings are alarmingly quotidian. Just the other day, on the same message board, a male user posted photographs of the "Eye Candy of the Year", shortly after Mr. Sean Avery told the world how fellow National Hockey League players had a tendency to fall in love with his "sloppy seconds". In the past, I have read diatribes on how a lack of female accomplishments in the philosophical, entrepreneurial, political and scientific realms over time proves women to be inferior to men. Day after day, I see television shows and advertisements and music videos limn women as fuck puppets.

Worst of all, so few of seem to have a clue as to what we are doing.

Is this how we treat our mothers, the women who held us in their wombs, brought us into this world and nurtured us as we learned to navigate through it? (Actually, I personally know people who do.) Is this how we treat our sisters and our teachers? Is this the way we treat the women with whom we fall in love and wish to share our lives? This young man executed these fourteen women for the sole reason that they were women, and when we crack wise in a pejorative manner towards women, we martyr this individual. It's little wonder why we worry about our wives when they venture out by themselves, and become protective of our sisters when they enter high school and are accosted by boys: we created this world, we perpetuate it, so it is up to us to end it.

This event goes beyond what transpired nineteen years ago today. Wars abound globally, in which women are systematically raped and murdered. This is a day to remember what happened in Montréal not simply for its own sake, but to reinforce within everyone the mess in which we find ourselves on account of ourselves, and beget a world in which violence is not a means by which we solve our problems. This is a day to abandon, once and for all, the absurd notion that "might makes right", for it serves only to foment more ire.

Men, if have no plans on attending any sort of vigil today, there is still something you can do. You can sit and reflect on the women in your lives - past, present, future - and cogitate the numerous ways they have enriched them. You can spend time with your wife or girlfriend or mother or sister or friend and appreciate how much these people matter to you. You can stop yourself from uttering that derogatory comment about women to impress your male friends; better yet, you can stop them from doing the same. If they chide you for being "soft" or a "pussy", never mind them; it takes much greater strength to do what is right than ensconce yourself in wrong for the sake of saving face. After all, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5).

Some argue we've come a long way in advancing the rights of women. Perhaps this is true on the surface, but so long as we continue to harbour the feelings highlighted in this entry, these so-called advances are but mere window dressing. It's terribly easy to point fingers at "others" for their treatment of women - male chauvinists declaring war on Islam in the name of women's rights left me bewildered, to say the least - perhaps because we fear venturing within ourselves for the very reason that we will find the same monster. Perhaps this monster within each of us may never truly be vanquished, but if we don't know it's there, how can we curb its awesome power? We owe it to ourselves and each other to do so, especially the women in our lives who have given us so much in such harsh social climes.

Mahalo.