Within a country known world-wide for its prosperity and democratic values, Vancouver is one of Canada's most beautiful and wealthy cities. Those living there enjoy a quality of life that is enviable to many Canadians, much less those who live in less fortunate circumstances across the globe (right now, that means about two-thirds or more than 4 billion people). It might be understandable to see such scenes in the midst of rising food prices and resource scarcities, political regime change, or other economic and social ills.

But after losing a hockey game? 

The sense of entitlement — and the utter lack of caring, compassion, and respect for others — by those who perpetrated the acts is a vivid demonstration that many in our society think only of themselves and shallow personal interests. No matter how keenly felt the loss of the game, there is no excuse for the actions we saw on the streets of Vancouver last night.

Further, there is a challenge presented to how we allocate societal resources, such as our time and money. While hockey is a national sport for Canada, the professional leagues draw much-needed money away from other community priorities when fans want new arenas, and franchises (facing inflated player salaries) plead for financial support. What else would we do to better our communities and our societies with such money? And, how would we spend our time differently as families and friends if we decided to forego such entertainment and do something more socially useful?

Societal leadership — and the better type of society that should derive from it — asks us to think about our priorities, both personal and collective. Given a moment's pause, our hope is that people reflect on true priorities in society. Hockey rioting, we'd hope, is not one of them.

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