it was close to 1215pm or 1230pm, eastern seaboard time, when a gunman asked everyone to lie down during a random shooting. multiple rounds were shot. automatic weapon? four people were killed, thirteen injured. a tall young man, sporting a 'retarded haircut' and wearing a black trenchcoat, was reported to have been neutralized by the police after he had fired off several rounds in dawson college, the first english-language institution in the quebec network of CEGEP serving students aged sixteen to twenty years old in the heart of downtown montreal.

traumatized? scarred? disturbed? what could have prompted yet another educational massacre? in a province that has already had to burden the traumatic experiences of two shootings, one in 1989 and another in 1992, rumours are afly but what is the truth behind the reason for such an act to purge. and purge what? what have we forgotten to listen to?

most importantly, what are we willing to change in our systems in order to ensure that such an assailment on the integrity of truth and education does not repeat itself? do we go down the road taken by many public schools in east l.a., forced to ensure a safer learning environment by installing security checkpoints targeted towards knives, guns and weaponry of any sort? do we even want to go there?

or should we look at what i think is the root of the problem? that we start by listening? and most importantly, listening to the ones who need to be listened to?