Deadly acts of pure hate happened right here in our backyard

London, Ont., can now add its name to the litany of sites that share the same dubious distinction as Quebec City and Christchurch.

International news about developing countries are usually abound with reports of inter-ethnic wars leaving thousands of murder victims and homeless refugees. The media is rife with terms such as “incendiary devices” and “weapons of mass destruction.”

That sultry June 6 Sunday evening in London, three generations were wiped out with one switch of the gears in a most obscene gesture of unalloyed hatred, increasing its quota by four and topping up its grim harvest.

This did not happen in a third-world country. This happened in our own backyard for naive Canadian eyes to witness the carnage. The flowers gathering at that crimson-stained intersection constitute a sad epitaph. There are members of the Muslim community who now feel they take a calculated risk every time they venture out into the streets, turning their own homes into veritable prisons. This was not done with incendiary devices or missiles, but rather with a pickup truck.

The words of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks of Britain ring true: “The biggest weapon of mass destruction is the human soul.”

Dr. Yale Erenberg St. Marys, Ont.