You and Your Community
What does your community say about who you are? What do you say about your community? One year ago, we featured a blog post titled “Is Patriotism Lame?” which discussed the unfortunate riots which erupted in Toronto during the G20 Summit in June 2010. This year, Canada again faced riots in June. This time they were in Vancouver, following the Vancouver Canucks’ game seven loss to the Boston Bruins in the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.
The reaction of the fans was in one sense understandable. Their team, generally considered to be the favorites in the series, had just come tantalizingly close to achieving hockey greatness for the first time ever, and lost … on home ice. It would be natural to be disappointed. But choosing to act out by rioting, stealing, and burning cars is entirely inappropriate and immoral. Fueled by anger (and likely alcohol, not to mention a few people who had come in to the city looking to start trouble) the fans acted in a way that shocked and appalled Vancouver residents.
Reports are now showing that it was only a miniscule portion of Canuck fans who participated in the riots. In fact, many of the rioters were not even hockey fans, but merely opportunists eager to take the opportunity to stir up a crowd. Nevertheless, the incidents reflected badly on Vancouver as a city. The actions of a few tainted the reputations of many in the community.
The community quickly tried to respond. Volunteers started cleaning up the mess the next day. People wrote notes of apology and encouragement and left them around the city. A Vancouver elementary school exchanged letters with a school in Boston, congratulating the Bruins on their win. One child’s letter read: “Vancouverites are good sports but a few troublemakers made us look kind of bad. Vancouver is not a bad city. Great job on your win.” (Vancouver Sun)
What does your community say about you, and what do you say about your community? Do you feel embraced or isolated from your community? Everyone has a desire for intimacy, but increasingly we live in a world where we are isolated from those living around us. Sometimes don’t even know who our next-door neighbors are. If you feel isolated or lonely today, you’re welcome to contact a mentor to talk about it. You’ll receive a reply via email.
Related:
What does your Soul Crave?
