16 April 2007

Judy Small's Montreal, December 1989 keeps running through my head

It was a cold December afternoon, the line stretched round the block
And some of them were weeping and some were still in shock
Seven thousand came that day to pay their last respects
To fourteen women slaughtered for no reason but their sex
And the cameras and the mikes were there to record the grief and fear
Of the ordinary people who worked and studied here
And a woman in her fifties in a gentle quiet tone
Summed up her sisters' outrage at the murder of their own

She said, I wonder why, as I try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do

And the man behind her in the line, he started getting steamed
He said, It wasn't because he was a man, this guy was crazy, mad, obscene
Yes he was crazy, the woman replied, But women go crazy too
And I've never heard of a woman shooting fourteen men, have you
And all those other times came flooding back to me again
A hundred news reports of men killing family, strangers, friends
And yes I can remember one or two where a woman's hand held the gun
But exceptions only prove the rule and the questions still remain

And don't you wonder why, as you try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do

And I know there are men of conscience who aren't like that at all
Who would never raise a hand in anger and who reject the macho role
And if you were to ask them about the violence that men do
I know they'd say they hate male violence too

And so we wonder why, as we try to make sense of this
Why is it always men who resort to the gun, the sword and the fist
Why does gunman sound so familiar while gunwoman doesn't quite ring true
What is it about men that makes them do the things they do