He doesn’t matter

Dear van driver, You don’t matter. Your victims matter. The death and injury you’ve caused them is tragic. We will grieve. We’ll hug and support their families. We’ll come together as a community, standing strong and united in the wake of your crime. For those we’ve lost, we’ll remember them and celebrate their lives. We’ll know their faces and their names. We’ ll love them.

Toronto matters. The people of Toronto matter. Our streets, parks, houses and buildings matter. The spirit of the 6 matters. From our infants to our elderly, of every shade, creed, and clan, we are Toronto. And we matter.

We’re not perfect. We have our challenges. We don’t always agree and we don’t always get along. But we live and let live. We tolerate differences, even celebrate them at times. There are ups and downs, but despite what you did we’ll keep right on living in our quiet, persistent way. We’ll live and play and work the whole lot of us together in this great Canadian city.

You will not change us.

You don’t matter. Your cause doesn’t matter. Your beliefs don’t matter. Your sanity doesn’t matter. Where you came from, how long you’ve been here, why you did it, who you associated with, how you’ll be tried and punished ... none of it matters.

I choose to ignore you and encourage everyone to do the same. When headlines swirl about you, I’ll look away. I won’t click, share, like or link. I will not read or watch. I can’t promise not to hear anything about you, but I can promise not to listen.

When asked about the events of today, both at home and abroad, I will acknowledge the tragedy and remember the victims, but I will never speak of you. I will never say your name. You are forgotten before you were known. You don’t matter. Toronto matters. Adrian Barek, East York (Toronto)