Nova Scotia Strong

Growing up in Nova Scotia, I always had this sense of comfort. I’d see all the bad things happening in the world and still maintained my sense of safety. Bad things like that don’t happen here. Eventually, the shootings were happening daily, for the most part in the US. It became almost normal to hear about a mass shooting. We would hear about them, but not really hear it anymore. Like in grade 12 when your teacher tells you to do your homework, you hear them but because you’re so used to hearing it, you don’t really hear it anymore.

After the events that occurred last weekend, that sense of safety has been ripped away, and this all hits a little closer to home. Literally.

I’d always heard people saying throughout my childhood that it was such a good thing we lived here. Nova Scotia was a safe spot. Sure, we were forgotten about by all our favourite artists on their tours, but we were always safe. I’d often wished that I lived in a bigger city, maybe in the US, but then I started hearing about all the gun violence down there and wasn’t so quick to wish for a different life. Never had I ever imagined that would happen here.

Nova Scotia has always just been here. We were forgotten about quite often, definitely not one of the prominent provinces in Canada. When we were remembered, we were often lumped together with “Atlantic Canada”. And that was okay. We didn’t mind too much.

This past week, however, Nova Scotia has made headlines all across the country. “Canada’s Deadliest Mass Shooting” are words I didn’t ever think would hit us. 22 dead. There are no words to describe the grief that we, as a province, feel. I knew none of these victims personally, but I know many who did. It is completely and utterly shocking to me.

I woke up Sunday to the news. An active shooter. An active shooter that was slowly making his way closer to my town. My town where I was about to go to work. To say I was terrified as I got in my car would be an understatement. Thankfully, by the time I got to work, I got the notification that he was in custody. The news of how bad it had been didn’t hit me until that night, but it really hit me. I opened up facebook the next morning and just started crying.

My deepest condolences go out to those who lost a loved one, but also to all Nova Scotians.

We all lost something. Our safety blanket. We will all forever be a little more scared of all the noises that used to trigger something that would be easily brushed off. Something that would cause your brain to go “we’re about to die”. That was all too real for so many so recently and we will never fully recover. We will, however, overcome this. We will come together, support each other, and grow. We are Nova Scotia strong and we will be okay.