After a fun-filled few weeks in which Vancouver finally had a chance to win the Stanley Cup (THE cup for the ice-hockey world) for the first time in their 40 year history, they did not only loose the cup but also the city’s well-deserved dignity. I’m pretty sure you’ve all seen the images and videos of people in Canucks jerseys smashing windows and blowing up cars.. while laughing and posing right in front of them. I was heart-broken… How could somebody do something like this to their city? To my city? Only over losing a hockey game?
Luckily I wasn’t the only one that felt this way. The morning after, the damaged downtown core was busy with angry, sad and embarrassed residents cleaning up the streets and boarding up broken shop windows. During the next days those boards became the home of thousands of messages from people apologizing to their city and expressing their disagreement with the whole event. Also the first Facebook groups started circulating in which people could upload pictures in order to help the police identify the rioters.
THAT is the Vancouver that I know, those people are the true Vancouverites that go the extra mile for their city and show the world that this is something that cannot “just happen” and people can get away with! So even though this is something that should never have happened, the people of the city knew how to turn the event around for the better and reconnected the city in its process.
