Kelowna's worst, best

Editorial

Jews were not singled out in the incident of anti-Semitic graffiti that defaced the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre last weekend. The incident, which saw swastikas and such phrases as "Jews are evil" spray-painted on the walls of the facility in Kelowna, was part of a larger, more generalized series of attacks. Racist phrases against other groups and a spate of generalized "tagging" – a sort of graffiti-artist signature – have plagued the local area, particularly the school adjacent to the OJCC.

The fact that this monstrous vandalism was not aimed exclusively at Jews seems to provide some solace to members of the community struggling to make sense of it. The OJCC is located in a fairly remote area, where an epidemic of vandalism has broken out. If the community centre and sanctuary had belonged to almost any other group, it would have suffered analogous treatment, the assumption goes.

But this should not ease our collective sense of violation as Canadians. That the malice aforethought the perpetrator(s) engaged in was probably motivated less by anti-Semitism than by a desire to shock and offend more universally does not alleviate the pain and grief felt when we see swastikas and hateful messages scarring a Jewish facility. What does ease the pain somewhat is the seemingly equal and opposite reaction to this hateful action by individual(s) who anonymously cleaned the graffiti from the building.

As we have said here before, if we accept the acts of one or two anti-Semites as suggestive of a negative social trend, we must likewise accept the good deeds of a small number as indication of a contrary force for good. As we mark Canada Day, we should remember that Canada's – indeed any country's – social health depends on the strength of these contending forces and we should rededicate ourselves to the small acts of goodness that counter the occasional emergence of evil.

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