Glitter Diaries: OttawaStrong
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| {A photo that I took in 2012 of the National War Memorial in Ottawa at Elgin and Wellington Streets, where Corporal Nathan Cirillo was fatally gunned down} |
The news that I have been reading about my hometown, Ottawa, has been surreal. My day started out as any other had begun this week, and my afternoon was basically routine -- I prepared my students for the end of the day (because the last hour of school was my prep time) by getting them to write their homework down in their agendas, making sure they got their snack time, and then sending them out to recess. What I was not expecting as I walked into the staff room at my place of work was to see a press conference, streaming live, from CNN, on a colleague's laptop. At first, I was not sure why everyone was huddled around a MacBook set up on the staff room table, but when I finally saw and read the text rolling across the screen, I was in shock. "ATTACK IN OTTAWA", "TERRORIST ATTACK", "SHOOTING"...
My thoughts immediately jumped to my friends and family who work in and around the downtown core where this terrifying event occurred. Those around me at work, asked: "Isn't your family in Ottawa?"
It is hard for me to comprehend how something so heinous and barbaric, an act of pure violence, could happen in a city that I once deemed to be so peaceful, and safe. The National War Memorial was a place that I used to walk by on a daily basis when I was a federal public servant in Ottawa, before I switched up careers and decided to become a teacher. I remember, very distinctly, purposely choosing the route that would take me past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier where two sentries were always posted, so that I could, once in a while, enjoy the sounds of the mighty bagpipes during the changing of the sentries. As a former employee of the Privy Council Office, I worked very near the area where the horrific events took place. Seeing footage of Langevin Block, a building I often frequented due to work, and of the National War Memorial and the Chateau Laurier, both places I walked by because I adored them... it left me shaken.
Many friends who are political staffers and federal public servants, were updating from where they were stuck during a lockdown. Most have been able to go home by now since the lockdown was instated at around 10:00 a.m., but my thoughts, my prayers, and my heart, are with you, Ottawa. Always.
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| {A photo, over 6 years old, that I took of the Changing of the Guard, in front of Centre Block on Parliament Hill} |
Ottawa Strong
Canada Strong
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