There is mindless vandalism, then there is the sort that appears on the front page of today’s paper.
One is usually just mindless kid’s play, the result of young people with too much time on their hands and not enough things to keep them busy.
The other, what staff writer Rose Quinn describes here, is another matter altogether.
Usually when we offere accounts of vandalism, it amounts to damage to a car, or a home or business that was targeted. A lot of times spray-paint is involved. I’ve often thought the “tags” you often see so prominently displayed on everything from bridges to buildings is some kind of a way of seeking notoriety, or maybe immortality. You see the “tag” and you know that someone has been there.
But what happened in Eden Cemetery in Collingdale is more disturbing. What was damaged there wasn’t a car, or a piece of property. And it can’t be fixed as easily.
Someone marauded through the historic cemetery and toppled 201 headstones.
This isn’t like taking a spray can to a car. This is someone’s final resting spot. And where loved ones come to pay their final respects.
To intentionally disturb that relationship, to damage that hallowed ground, is beyond thinking. These kids trampled all over this beloved turf.
Of course, that’s exactly it. The person who did this wasn’t thinking. Not of the damage they were committing, nor the loving relationships they were violating.
Police believe this is the work of “punk kids.”
Technically, they may be kids. But this kind of vandalism isn’t kid stuff.
I hope they learn that when they are brought to justice.
One is usually just mindless kid’s play, the result of young people with too much time on their hands and not enough things to keep them busy.
The other, what staff writer Rose Quinn describes here, is another matter altogether.
Usually when we offere accounts of vandalism, it amounts to damage to a car, or a home or business that was targeted. A lot of times spray-paint is involved. I’ve often thought the “tags” you often see so prominently displayed on everything from bridges to buildings is some kind of a way of seeking notoriety, or maybe immortality. You see the “tag” and you know that someone has been there.
But what happened in Eden Cemetery in Collingdale is more disturbing. What was damaged there wasn’t a car, or a piece of property. And it can’t be fixed as easily.
Someone marauded through the historic cemetery and toppled 201 headstones.
This isn’t like taking a spray can to a car. This is someone’s final resting spot. And where loved ones come to pay their final respects.
To intentionally disturb that relationship, to damage that hallowed ground, is beyond thinking. These kids trampled all over this beloved turf.
Of course, that’s exactly it. The person who did this wasn’t thinking. Not of the damage they were committing, nor the loving relationships they were violating.
Police believe this is the work of “punk kids.”
Technically, they may be kids. But this kind of vandalism isn’t kid stuff.
I hope they learn that when they are brought to justice.
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