Well, that might be a bit dramatic, but yesterday wasn’t the stellar day I had hoped for.
The Canucks lost-- pitifully.
In the scheme of things, a hockey game loss isn’t a big deal, even if it was for the coveted Stanley Cup. I was disappointed, but hey, the best team won, bottom line. (Congrats to the Boston Bruins!)
But then, the post game celebration turned into a riot in downtown Vancouver (about a 4 hour drive from here), where about 100,000 people had gathered to watch the game on big screens in the downtown core.
When something fun and celebratory leads to something so horrible and irrational, you start to wonder what is happening to our culture and our future generations.
Especially in the life of 20 something’s-- who it seems were the majority of those who began the mayhem in the streets, taunting police, flipping over cars, lighting them on fire, breaking city property, and throwing whatever they could find into the blazes, breaking into businesses, and walking off with the goods. Then there were the hundreds, maybe thousands, who idly stood by and watched, taking pictures, posing for pictures, and generally disregarding the commands of the police to leave the area. It was heartbreaking to watch. When the group mentality takes over, there’s not a lot that can be done. Need I mention there was alcohol involved?
While listening to my favourite radio podcast today, based in Chicago, I heard a little snippet of their news from Washington D.C., and this riot was one of the news items. Vancouver Canuck fans are now famous…or should I say infamous. Sad, sad, day.
I’m sure there’ll be all sorts of theories flying around as to how this could have happened. Blame will be poured on the police (who deserve medals for doing their jobs!) and anyone else that had anything to do with these festivities- gone- bad.
My assessment, for what it’s worth, is these are signs of the times. Young people with nothing better to do than drink themselves sick, wanting to get their moment in the spotlight, blatant disregard for authority, not seeing the bigger picture, no purpose or direction in their lives. I don’t really think it had much to do with the hockey game, and it sure wasn’t a representation of most of us hockey fans.
It was just an excuse to be stupidly and dangerously crazy. And when you have an audience, you dare to do more than you would if you were alone.
Hope we will all learn from this. No easy answers, though.
Then.. to top it off, after the game, I hit a cat while we were driving home. I saw it, out of the corner of my eye, racing across the street just at the wrong time. There was nothing I could do. Then THUD! I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw a brown blur zipping into the bushes on the other side of the road. Maybe it’s okay? Maybe it’s not. Handyman said that it was fine, but I think he was just trying to calm me down.
As for me, right now I am choosing to focus on the good things in my life at this particular moment.
Mainly, hope. So glad that I have hope in my life, which comes from God, who values us all so much.
As well, I am super thankful for the twenty-something’s in my life, especially my own five (4 + 1 by marriage!), who are all loving, respectful, and caring people. It gives me hope.
And then, my heart has been warmed by hearing of all the people in the Vancouver area who have voluntarily come downtown to help with the clean up of the mess left behind.
There IS hope!
And, finally, I’m making Dutch meatballs for supper. Absolutely nothing bad about that!
Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I'll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He's my God.
Psalm 42:5
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