Centuries ago, a tribe made themselves famous by wrecking things so we have a label for the doers and the deed.
Vandals spoil other people’s property: public property that will be replaced or repaired from tax money; work places and business property that will be replaced or repaired through increased cost of the products produced or on sale; property belonging to a society established to support the salmon, or to provide recreational areas, or shared space for dancing and meeting and holding craft fairs that will be replaced – or not – by society members hard work and private property that will be replaced – or not – from the unfortunate owner’s income.
Gates go up. Prices go up. Walls, fences and locks go up. Taxes go up. There is nothing to show for the money spent because it is for repairs and replacements, not for new stuff.
There is a community of good will that builds so much to share with others. There are more people willing to build than there are people who wreck stuff. It is really discouraging when the work and money goes out to fix things that someone wrecked on purpose.
What motivates the people who break, paint and burn when no one is looking? What do they go home with? Maybe they are addicted to wrecking things and go home with nothing. Addicts spend themselves and the people around them.
Maybe the cure is for them to get together and build something for themselves that they can enjoy, share and be proud of.
But it is simple arithmetic: the more money and time the vandals have cost others before they get on with their own projects to support their own hobbies and interests, the less money and time the community will have to help them.
Heather Phillips
Sooke
