I don't know if I'm overreacting. I woke up this morning, remembering what happened last night. I didn't take part in the riots (surprise, surprise) but I still felt a sense of shame, embarrassment, and deep disappointment. So, ok, I overreacted - I teared up.
I'd heard about the Post-riot cleanup facebook event happening; I was a little skeptical about how everything would be organized. Would most of it be cleaned up by city workers anyway? Was someone going to be at the Canada Line stations telling people what to do? Would there just be a lot of people wearing gloves and carrying garbage bags wandering aimlessly looking for trash and broken glass? Well, it turned out, it was the first thing and some of the last thing.
I took the Canada Line to Vancouver City Centre at around 8am and it seemed like most of the commuters on the train who were going into the city were in a somber mood as well. Who knows though? I'm usually not on the Canada Line that early in the morning. Maybe they're usually in a quiet and somber mood and are depressed about going into work. As the elevator carried me upwards and out to the city streets where the looting around The Bay, Sears, and London Drugs happened, it seemed like most of the debris had been cleared away in the early morning. But plywood in place of shattered windows had been put up, a reminder of what happened last night. Sap that I am, the sight of these plywood constructions brought a lump to my throat.
I heard clapping as I walked closer to the Bay and a crowd formed around what was formerly one of The Bay's display windows. A man was taping a poster up on the plywood which read something like, "I'm sorry." He then gave a speech telling everyone to write messages of encouragement and to make sure that this sort of crap didn't happen again. People started clapping. I am yet again, a sap; actual tears started forming in my eyes so I quickly move away from the scene. Before I leave, I notice a homeless man lying to the side of the speech-giving man and the boarded up window, looking curious, but also looking like he's been disturbed from his sleep. I wonder how the homeless living in downtown Vancouver fared with last night's stupidity.
I didn't really know what to expect when I filled up my backpack with gloves and a couple of garbage bags, and I ended up wandering aimlessly for a while. Besides the boarded up windows - windows that managed to withstand whatever was thrown at it, but with the impact mark of a spiderweb of shattered glass; a Starbucks which had a giant jagged hole opening up the store to the outside, several employees inside looking back outside at the onlookers curiously looking in; traces of burn marks along the sidewalk.
I saw a group of three with garbage bags and a broom and dustpan clearing away some glass and ended up following them around the city for a good while, looking for some place to help clean up.
I recognized that the city workers had actually done most of the cleaning up in the early morning. And that our coming down there wasn't really to do the work of "cleaning up the city." It wasn't a hindrance to the city workers either, and I hope they appreciated us coming in our own small way to help, with our dustpans and plastic bags. In a "selfish" way, I went down there for my own benefit, to feel like I was doing something to help the city, to show that I cared, to sort of attempt to clean the ugliness I felt as I watched on tv, the utter selfishness, stupid actions, the piggishness. I wanted to do something, other than go to the houses of the people who took part in this riot and punch them in the face. You know. Something constructive.
After I finished clearing up glass with the group of cleaners I'd hung on to, I saw a Bruins fan sitting outside a coffee shop. I passed him while I was walking with the other cleaner, then turned back. I told him "Good game," he smiled and shook my hand. I teared up.
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