One big game, and a lot of heart.

What was it that happened in Vancouver this past two weeks? A few weeks ago polls in Canada, and especially British Columbia, showed a dismal showing of support for the impending Olympic onslaught. Was the over-budgeted flop was on its way to ruin the green-loving, temperate city on the Coast and everything it stood for? Corporate slogans were being plastered on mass transit and on the sides of buildings. I was getting out of here, and none too quickly.

But then something happened, between my flights in and out of Vancouver and a couple gold medals, this city began to show its true self. Someone's dream of an Olympic city somehow caught fire on the kindling of national pride and Vancouverite-community. A raging fire began to break out. On Friday, February 26th, I was near the Science Center checking out Saskatchewan House and watching the game between Canada verus Slovakia on a big screen. It was pouring rain and hundreds of people were gathered around hundreds of outdoor televisions, screens and projections just to take part in this event together. As I walked to catch a bus that night, I began to wonder what was taking hold here. Then, on Sunday with the gold medal game on the line, I saw everything come to the surface. No one was walking the streets that morning without adorning themselves in their Red and White's. People were lined up for hours to get into any bar, to share the moment with friends and soon-to-be friends. Then for 60 tense minutes, our city and nation watched and cleched wondering if we would win. When, in overtime, Sidney Crosby finally scored, the city erupted. Every car honked their horn, people flooded into the streets. I live near a busy, but quiet intersection of two main roads. People were pouring out of their houses and stopping traffic, shouting and celebrating the win. A B-line bus pulled up outside my balcony, and people were pulled on. When it seemed too packed, people began to sit on one anothers laps. In this moment of celebration, the true Vancouverite came out in everyone.

That same spirit that often gives an elderly person the seat on the bus, or lets the bike ride have more shoulder room was starting to quadrouple in form. And I finally saw what so many have missed. On TV the celebrations in the streets were in downtown Toronto and Vancouver, not Calgary or Winnipeg. Aren't those places just as much in love with Canada's Game? Its true, and maybe even more. Many fairweather hockey fans were bouncing in the streets of Vancouver on Sunday. However, it wasn't just the love of the game. It was the community.

Friends, family and strangers from the small town I grew up in often ask how I could live in such a small apartment so close to everyone else. How do I ride transit everywhere or where did I learn to walk so fast. I can now firmly reply, in Vancouver its possible because it allows me to be a part of a community. A rare feeling in the often spread out and underpopulated cities of North America. As I think about it, its those moments on a bus when making a new friend or showing some courtesy that help me build this community and be a part of it. You can't do that while riding alone in your SUV. Yes, dense but lively cities are the hope for the future. Cities, like Vancouver, where small businesses flourish and people walk the streets to do their shopping. Where you interact not only with those who you allow into your home, but those who help create the city where your home was built. A real community, filled with people of different races, beliefs and perspectives that can travel on transit and celebrate a goal in their country's game in the only way they know how; together.