Re: Emotion clouds gov’t riot reaction, Our View, June 24, 2011.
When I saw yet another young lady on TV say “I am sorry,” it just made my blood boil. It’s not enough to say “I am sorry, I won’t every do anything like this again” or “I’ll do whatever it takes to make this up.”
Sure, the government can spend megabucks of our money on a task force and prosecute the perpetrator but how will it really address or make up for what has happened and prevent it from happening in the future?
We could throw them behind bars and be done with it. But in the end, that’s just telling them what to do or punishing them for their misdeeds. Essentially, it lets them off the hook.
As a professional personal coach, there is only one question I want to ask every one of those who participated in the Vancouver riot: “So what are you going to do to make this right?”
What if each and every rioter were relentlessly asked that question, broken record style until they came up with an answer that they could take ownership of and put into action?
Perhaps the more prudent action to take would be to gather together a “task force” committee of their peers who politely suggest to each one of the rioters that they exercise their brain cells to come up with their own answer as to how they, individually, are going to make restitution to those businesses and individuals who were hurt during the riot.
The committee could also insist on a written action plan that covered all the five “Ws” (who, what, when, where and why) and how the “rioter” plans to let us all know they have done what they said they would do.
I believe that then and only then can real restitution take part and the process of healing begin. And hey, they just might learn something very useful about maturity, responsibility and accountability in the process.
Sharon House
View Royal