Stanley Cups and Riots

As most of you probably know or saw we did not win the Stanley Cup. On top of that we had a riot, right after the game. Yes. It sucked. I was VERY glad of my choice to stay home, as I feared a riot, win or lose.



I watched the game and was sad for the loss, but pleased with how well our team did, considering that they had come so far! I was frustrated to see on FB many news feeds that were very disrespectful to a team that had an amazing season. Shortly after I was then very concerned to see reports on facebook of burning cars and immediately turned on the TV to see what the news was reporting. It wasn’t pretty. Riots. Vandalism. Cars on fire. Fighting. Windows being broken in. Parkades smoking, with level after level of cars lit on fire. I was nervous for the friends I had downtown, but thankfully they all left after the end of the game. Of the 100,000+ people that were down there, most were smart enough to leave. Unfortunately many still remained and that was frustrating to watch. There seemed to be three groups; The rioters (causing the major damage), the groups of people cheering them and encouraging violence, chanting “riot” and “fire”, and lastly passive participants who didn’t encourage the rioters, and who dd not perform violence but were exactly law abiding or helpful to police. Shortly after the game finished and the riot began, Granville and Georgia was declared an “illegal assembly zone” and people were asked to leave. The passive participants made it harder for the police to actually do their job.


I had trouble getting to sleep last night. I couldn’t tear myself away from the footage (though what good does watching it do? Nothing really). When I finally did go to bed, I felt so wound up. I am saddened to see the evil in people. I am saddened to think that people could make these choices…especially for no reason. At least in war, violence is for an end.


This morning one of my co workers (from another country) walked up to me and said “so you call yourselves a civilized people” and I said” yes, we do, generally. Obviously not the stupid rioters. From what I read in the papers and heard on the news, most of the rioters came prepared to riot, win or lose. They didn’t care about hockey, they wanted a fight”. My coworker argued that they were wearing Canucks jerseys. It seems to me that if you were going to go cause problems someplace and were looking for violence, would you not dress appropriately to ensure entry in to the place you wanted to fight? I’d assume you would. As I read my newsfeed on facebook the people that have been pro canucks for the past years and this past season were saddened by the loss but happy with the season, generally. Followed quickly, by disgust at the rioters. No actual Vancouverite or Canucks fan could actually think that Luongo, Henrik, Daniel or the rest of the gang would actually promote that sort of stupidity.


Sure I wish Vancouver had won the Stanley Cup. That would have felt Epic. I still think the riot would have happened. And I believe that most actual Canucks Fans and Vancouverites left downtown as soon as the game was over and trouble started to brew, however I’ll agree that there were young Canucks fans that made the problem worse by not leaving the area when the police ordered them to, and the youth (20-30) of this generation need to understand that actions have consequences, even passive actions (which includes having your picture taken in front of a burning car during a riot). It is hard to understand consequences. We live in a country where you can fairly easily attain a get out of jail free card. If you have a poor work ethic and are fired, you can get another job. If you speed you can pay a ticket and keep driving. If we act like idiots publicly, we generally get a slap on the wrist and keep going.


I, in some ways, am thankful that in my early 20’s I made some big mistakes. I got to learn that with God and family there can be grace and unconditional love. I also learned, that with God, family, and society there are consequences. Each story where God has shown mega/huge grace in my life, it’s been paired with an experience in Consequences. I have learned that if we break rules or laws that there has to be a consequence. If I rack up debt, I’ll have to work to pay it down (as I still am!). If I am careless with myself and others in relationship, I’ll have to work to repair relationships and trust. If I sin, I have to deal with the fallout. On top of that, God forgives me and loves me. There is grace. There is love. And it makes me want to extend that to others.


In lighter news we had our homestay interview yesterday. He was very pleased with the homestay room and our house/location and our family in general. He could see that we actually wanted a student in our lives, not just hiding in their bedroom. Also, this was a great exercise in getting my house clean. So much easier to maintain then always be deep cleaning.


Today I have an interview with a hopeful job, for when this position is over. I’m very excited. I’m wearing my professional bests and practicing talking about myself, haha. I really should practice on my coworkers as they walk past reception…can you imagine? “Oh hi, good morning. How was your commute? Everything safe for you last night during the riot? Oh and would you like to hear about my strengths?” or “Yes the riots were a shame, but I suppose we all have weaknesses, I guess mine would be…” or even “the police did a great job of controlling the riot, would you like to hear about a time I did a great job of dealing with a problem?” I think I would be the new, number one, most annoying co worker ever.


And now, on to going over my interview prep sheet that my career coach helped me make. It’s time to become an expert on me!