I love my city... in spite of things....

IMG_0246, originally uploaded by impactmatt.

Ok... so there were riots. People were hurt, cars were burned, and stores were vandalized. I am profoundly sorry for the people who were affected and I am very sorry for my city. This is not what my city is about.

Over the past few days I have had floods of emails, calls, and comments about how we should be ashamed of what happened.

"The actions of the past few days are exactly why Montreal will never win another Stanley Cup."

"There is something wrong with you people in Montreal."

"What did YOU take?"


Now I am ready to riot... I am from Montreal, so automatically I stole something? Are you freaking kidding me? You want to run that by me again? Montrealers are not MORONS and those who support the Montreal Canadiens are not vandals in hiding waiting for an opportune moment to strike. You cannot lump hockey fans or Montrealers all together because of that reprehensible act of the few. If you want to live by that code, get ready to point that judgement and condemnation inward! So by that token Germans would be Nazis, Japanese would be samurais, and blondes would be dumb.

Just a few facts... I was there taking pictures after game 7. People were celebrating, dancing, and shouting in the streets. Complete strangers hugged each other and exchanged celebratory smiles with each other. Hardcore-looking-anglophone-gangsters were linked arm in arm with traditional-conservative-francophone-seniors. People shared their brown-bag beer and offered toasts to the city's and team's good fortune. Besides slowing down traffic, nothing serious happened with the Canadiens fans. (There were a couple of people burning Bruins jerseys, but there is nothing really wrong with that... and a few Bruins fans got heckled... but come on don't scream Habs suck and Habs were lucky just after a loss... in Montreal...wearing a Bruins jersey with "Habs Suck" written on it. Use your head!)

I am not saying that nothing bad happened. A lot of people were hurt financially, physically and emotionally. However this is not due to the Canadiens or Montrealers... There are people, given the right circumstances, will profit from a situation. These people came prepared with firebombs and plans to wreak havoc. These people came prepared to influence others (who were probably already under the influence) to continue with distractions and vandalism. This can happen anywhere and potentially to anyone. Remember how Christians got on the whole "slavery is ok because the Bible says so" bandwagon. You ever go out with a guy/girl who maybe influenced you to go further than you felt comfortable? What happened is not a hockey problem, a Montreal problem, a French problem...

ITS A PEOPLE PROBLEM.

It because there are people who think of themselves as more important than others. Their immediate needs are more important than the long term effects on society and the world. There are people who have some serious hurts and holes in their lives that they need filled. Maybe they need people to encourage them and pay attention to them. Maybe it sounds really cliche, but maybe they need a big hug and someone to tell them that they mean something and don't have to resort to extremes for people to pay attention to them. I really don't want to sound like Dr. Phil, but it would think it obvious that these people are missing something(and most likely not left footed Reeboks stolen from the Reebok store. The funny thing about that is they went in and stole shoes off the floor and all they got were a bunch of lefties. They won't even be able to wear them!)

So now we have this people problem... what do we do about it? Do we sit from our places on high and point the finger and cast down condemnation as if we were gods on Mount Olympus? Do we make fun of the city where it took place and write off an entire population? Do we litter the streets of Montreal with riot police every time we have a game? I don't know actually... as I was typing I was thinking that I this great idea would come to me and everything would be all right... but nothing is coming. Pointing the finger won't work. Name calling won't work. Extra riot police might actually help, although it felt like I was in some police state under martial law last Thursday after game one of round two. However I feel that all the previous things that have been done is for those who don't really care about why this is happening but don't want it to happen again. Its like when my "service engine" light comes on in the car and I put a piece of tape over it. If I can't see it, well its not a problem!

So... I stand by my city. Even with the riots and the blackeye its given Montreal, I will stand up. While the world sees pictures of charred police cruisers and broken store windows, I see a much different story. So lets not point the finger and feel good about ourselves comparing ourselves to the people who burned, looted, and rioted. Because... we have all done it. Maybe we have not burned police cars and caused chaos but we all have a little inner turmoil and fires that burn within us.