Post-Ottawa Siege: The Tomb of the Unknown and the Consequences of the Siege

[dewline]

Since moving to Ottawa with my parents back in 1985, I occasionally used to use the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here in Ottawa as an informal, outdoor confessional site. To air out my self-doubts, concerns, fears, grievances, hopes, etc.. Before certain fools used the National War Memorial as an outdoor urinal on the evening of Canada Day 2006.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/charge-dropped-for-man-who-urinated-on-national-war-memorial-1.670903

Because of that first instance, the honour guard from May to November that Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was killed as part of in 2014 was instituted. A friend of mine had the horrible luck to be there to witness that shooting when it happened.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/first-person-at-the-war-memorial/

(Sidebar: that particular friend went on to run the local SF publisher Bundoran Press until its end early in Pandemic times.)

And now we're rolling up the Ottawa Siege, and dealing with consequences. Such as one documented by Evan Solomon:

https://twitter.com/EvanLSolomon/status/1495448514448527364

I cannot help but think that the honour guard is now going to be a year-round thing, and that my days of using the Tomb of the Unknown as an outdoor confessional during the winter months are about to end. It is a selfish thought, yes, and I own it as such.

Comments

[warriorsavant]

You can still go there. I assume you keep the appropriate attitude, just keep the appropriate distance also.

[agoodwinsmith]

The loss of small thing can be representative of the loss of a larger thing. The loss of a personal ritual, in the this case, is representative of how so much has changed and how so much has been lost. This can charge the personal loss with a great deal of rage. Since one can then feel that the rage is disproportional, one can feel that it is "over-reacting". One is not.

[mtbc]

I've been sad that it's now harder to leave churches, etc. open, judged too risky.