Silver lining

It’s a shame that Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan formally ends on July 1. Otherwise, we could stick all the Stanley Cup rioters into uniforms and ship them over to Kandahar to be human I.E.D. seekers to protect our brave soldiers who put their lives on the line to uphold Canadian ideals and freedoms, not make a mockery of them.
Since that option is out, we can only hope those behind the sheer lunacy displayed last Wednesday after the Vancouver Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the Boston Bruins face the harshest of consequences. And that doesn’t necessarily mean jail time. A few thousand hours of community service might do the trick, or certainly hefty fines to help cover the damage they caused.
Unfortunately, no amount of punishment will erase the scar those few hours of madness has left on the City of Vancouver in the eyes of the world, not to mention Canada’s reputation as a whole. In one fell swoop, thanks to the actions of a relative few, we suddenly are a nation of sore losers and hooligans.
If there is a silver lining, it’s the stories of those who jeopardized their own safety in order to try and stop the mayhem, as well as the outpouring of collective condemnation from the vast majority disgusted by what transpired. Volunteers were out the following morning to help with the clean-up, and countless cellphone images and Facebook pictures were forwarded to police in hopes of identifying the guilty.
It is those actions which speak volumes about what Canada—and being Canadian—is all about.
Mob mentality can wreak such havoc, but collective good is just as powerful a force and thankfully will always win out.