Lost of a Schoolmate / Vancouver Riots

Lost of a schoolmate

On Monday, June 13 I found out that a high school mate passed away. I found out thru another friend via facebook. My friend wrote that he passed away because he had cancer. There was a blog written about his last seventy something days. It was a blog written by his girlfriend, who wrote in it as what it seems like every other day. She wrote about how he found out he had the cancer and his struggle with it. It seemed like everyday was a struggle for him.

After I found out, I was sad all day. It really made me think about me and my life. It was only about three months from the time he found out to the time he passed away. If I found out I have cancer and only three months to live, what would I do? Would I have completed my bucket list? Would I die happy?

Vancouver Riots

A few days later, the Vancouver riots happened. That made me sad too. It is so unbelievable that something like this would happen. I think it would've happened if the Canucks won or lost. What was the point of burning the cars or looting? It was an opportunity for all the crazies to come out and play. It was a monkey see monkey do attitude. If they saw someone doing something illegal, it seemed ok to do it too. It was so crazy for them to do all the stupid things that they did. Didn't they see or know that there were surveillance cameras and everyone there had a camera too? All these smart phones these days. All of them comes with a camera and some with video capabilities. In an instant, their images are plastered all over the internet. It is a different society and lifestyle than 1994, when the last riots happened. In two days, some rioters have been identified already.

The day after the riot happened, the people fought back and cleaned up the streets. It was pretty amazing. Everyone banned together and took back the streets. They swept glass off the streets. They cleaned what they can. The Bay was looted and was boarded up. The board has now been used as a canvas to share the thoughts of Vancouverites who condemned the violence.