A Moment Aside --- 1 July 2021
The horrifying news we’ve
all faced regarding the unmarked, unreported graves of indigenous children
consigned to the residential school system has left many without any notion of
celebrating Canada’s national day. I fully understand that.
I also know that I had
nothing to do with that. My family and I are immigrants, although we did not
come to Canada to escape persecution or hunger (as my own ancestors did when
they left Ireland in the midst of “the Great Hunger.”) However if I live here,
I must shoulder some of the responsibility for what has happened… because
although I did nothing to cause it, I
also did nothing to stop it.
On this national day of
ours, we must look ourselves in the eye and realize all of who we are. The next real step is not talk and guilt and
hand-wringing. The next real step is listening to the stories of the survivors
and their children, then reflecting on those stories which are just as much
Canada’s Story as Passchendaele and Juno Beach, even if we’d rather they weren’t.
What comes next? Maybe to
listen more, to recognize what is, to resolve to do better, and see to it that
this sort of abomination never happens again.
Believe it or not, this is
a turning point and a moment of grace
for us all. Grace means change and growth, and change and growth almost always
hurts. Grace, however, will not leave us where it found us.
Are we willing to let
grace grasp us?
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