It was just like any other day...

Flowers usually make a girl happy but the 14 white roses on my desk this morning had a sobering presence.

Just like our day this morning, as we all climbed out of bed and braced ourselves for the cold December day, that day 16 years ago began just like any other day.

But it didn’t end that way. It ended in hatred and gunfire and broken dreams.

Remembering the December 6, 1989 incident in which 14 young women were gunned down at Montreal's l'École Polytechnique isn’t enough. We have to change the attitudes that put people in danger and keep them at risk, we have to appreciate the fragility of life and strive to protect it, and we have to learn how to ask for, and give, help when it’s needed. For ourselves and everyone we love, every day.

Because every day starts the exact same way.