It’s funny how many conversations I overhear on a daily basis. It’s not that I mean to listen in on what people are saying, but they happen to be quite loud and obnoxious, so I’m not getting much else done… and what I’m hearing now has caused a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Last night, there was a riot on the streets of downtown Vancouver, BC, and now I’m listening to four Canadians sitting around talking and laughing. Laughing. One girl just said that it was funny as she watched the riot because all of these people were running around with shopping carts full of laptops and big screen T.V.’s. And then she said, “I mean, where are you going to put those?! You don’t have room for that!” As if they were either homeless or poor. Neither of which matters, but the fact that she said watching it was funny and that she was laughing so easily about it is disgusting. Her country now looks completely stupid in the eyes of the rest of the world. I’m sickened. I don’t live in Canada, but my town is pretty close, and I feel for the Canadians inadvertently involved with the riot from last night.
As I was heading into work this morning, I was listening to a Canadian radio station (they are clearer than the ones that are local, and let’s face it, are more entertaining) and the host of the show said that it had nothing to do with the hockey game at all, but it was used an as excuse to be loud, stupid, and crazy. And he’s right. It’s not just boys going out and doing stupid acts, it was all sorts of people ready and prepared to cause havoc and chaos just because they wanted to, and the loss of a hockey game just gave them a cover to complete their acts of insanity. Because that’s what it was. Insane chaos. I watched live footage from last night and nearly cried. People were drunk and out of control and uncaring that they were flipping stranger’s vehicles and setting them on fire. I understand men getting in a testosterone driven argument with someone and getting into a physical fight to get their point across. But the premeditated acts of last night have no excuse. My question is why was that necessary? Canada has been viewed as the friendliest country, a beautiful country full of beautiful people, and now they look like fools. Uncontrollable fools who riot over the loss of a hockey game. My heart is heavy for the majority of the city that wasn’t involved at all. It’s sad that such a small group of people has ruined the reputation of such a place.
What happens now? Americans are being warned to not go into Vancouver, there’s actually a travel warning to stay away from our neighbors to the north. How long will that last? How long will it take to clean up the mess on the streets, the burned cars, the looted stores, the broken pieces of a city once viewed as one of the best cities in the world? Will that reputation be restored again years from now when this has blown over, or will it be a permanent stain on the city’s record?
Another couple just sat next to me and started talking about last night. What else is there to talk about when we live so close to the source? This couple is American, and they, too, are laughing. They’re mumbling about the clean-up, how this has happened before, something else that I tuned out because now I’m pissed.
What’s wrong with you?
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