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Where to tap, with precision, to let fall away the excess, the inclusions that cloud life's essence - privilege, security, our pandering to a particular idea of beauty - this is the unwritten corollary to a diagnosis, one we can lean into, or ignore. But personal illness is not our only disease, says this 14-year ovarian cancer survivor with a new, even more terrifying diagnosis than that. Staring into the truth of who we are, individually, in our circle of family and friends, or globally as a planetary diagnosis, is a courageous undertaking. Our hand often falters when we take up the jeweller's tools. How do we honestly assess the essence of who we are and protect only that, tapping away and letting fall the excesses we so enjoy that another, more exquisite and lasting reality may emerge?

Thank you to those who have responded. I am not excusing all murderers but I do think that what the article I posted notes is that we are defined by our experience and only those who have access to the resources to overcome trauma, or extraordinary inner strength, have the ability to process and develop apart from that trauma. Our societies do not provide the resources that might help individuals overcome the traumas of the past. That is a fact. Until we do, we cannot point to individuals and say they are the guilty parties. We are all guilty parties to the extent that we support governments that do not provide social supports, early childhood supports, social benefits like health care, childcare, food benefits, and well-funded public schools. The government representatives we support are the ones we think best serve our own interests but those interests should and must come to include the interests of others. That, in the long run, would be the most merciful thing we could do. Thank you, again, for engaging.

Today, Canada searches for a man who killed, along with his brother, who he also murdered, thirteen people and injured 12 more. We call him a murderer and are on a manhunt for him. But Canada imprisoned his people in residential schools for generations, tore their heritage and dignity from them, and destroyed the deep bones of community. Just as my impulses and senses determine my choices, so do his, but we have a responsibility for the senses he experiences as we drove them deep into the soul of his people. The tragedy is his, the legacy is ours.