Two Horrible Comemerations.

Today is the "anniversary" of two events that should never be forgotten.

The first is the Halifax Explosion of 1917 - On December 6th 1917 as the world was at war with itself, on a bright morning in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Two ships, the Imo and the Mont Blanc, were trying to pass through the "Narrows" - the entrance to the Harbour. In a massive miscommunication and a wrong "catch" of the current the two ships collided. This would be bad under normal circumstances, in wartime with one ship laden with explosives. The result was disaster.
At 9:05 am the Mont Blanc and exploded with the force of 3 kilotons of TNT. The largest man made explosion to that date. It was felt for better than 200 miles and 2,000 died. With thousands more injured and/or left homeless.
You can find out more at your local Library or Book store, or you can read a bit here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

The other is the Montreal Massacre December 6th, 1989. When a troubled, angry young man walked into a classroom at the Ecole Polytechnique, seperated the male students from the female students and the shot all the women, killing six. He claimed to be "fighting feminism" - he then went looking for other victims, shooting several more people, killing 5 of them. For a total of 14.

Sad events indeed. May we never forget. And more to the point may we find and learn the lessons of these events so they will never be repeated.


PS: Both instances are some how, in my mind connected with a lack of tolerance and the less tolerant we are of things the more likely to repeat the mistakes of the past.