February 14, 2001

Some tired memories revisited

In the old west, a rancher's enemies might poison his wells. We have enemies as mean, and as mindless. Vandals can poison our generous thoughts and the impulses we might have to act in a kindly spirit.

It's been a whole generation since a local couple shared their talent with the community, but I remember it to this day. They grew wonderful fuchsias. When they bought a small local business, they beautified their store and shared the beauty of Pacifica's official flower with all of us who passed by. Their fuchsias added a touch of color and beauty. Vandals destroyed the flowers, not once, but repeatedly.

When Pacifica's fishing pier was new, in the mid-seventies, the men's room was made almost indestructible. Not quite indestructible, however. Some of the mindless ones must have taken it as a personal challenge. They must have used sledgehammers.

Even the thought of vandalism can wither generous impulses. How many times have you thought to yourself "Why doesn't (fill in the name of a service club, or the city, or a school district, or "a public spirited citizen" ) do (insert the title of some kind of public service or project?).

If it's really a good idea, more than likely "they" have already thought of "it." Very likely they would have been glad to do it "once", but thinking of the response of the mindless vandals among us, they realized they couldn't afford to do it over and over again, so it never got done at all. Or they simply couldn't afford the cost of making their project indestructible.

My own "Why don't they?" happened almost thirty years ago, when my young family stopped in Ukiah's city park on our way back home from Humboldt County. We saw a pair of giant tires, the kind used for off-road earth movers. Ukiah used them as playground equipment.

They're simple, but they stir kids' imaginations. My kids loved them in Ukiah. Not long after, I spotted a pair of similar tires discarded by the builders of Park Pacifica, Challenge Construction Company. My kids are adults now, but at the time they were in the co-op nursery school in Pomo Park, not far from Oceana High School. I made the suggestion. The city agreed. Challenge donated the tires, and they even hauled them to Pomo Park. Everyone felt good. I drove by Pomo Park a few days later, and the tires were swarming with local kids having a ball.

End of story. Unfortunately, no. This is real life. Within a short time, the smell of urine was so strong, it almost covered up the marijuana odor. And shortly after the fall term of nursery school began, the tires were set on fire. They weren't destroyed, but they were made unusable. They had to be hauled away.

When those tires were hauled away, the dream of children playing on them went away as well. With them, too, went some of my idealism and naivete'. I had felt a little richer when I had seen children swarming over the tires, having fun, enjoying something in which I had had a part. Those tires could have given children pleasure for years. I felt poorer when I realized how shortlived was the children's fun. And I felt especially sorry for the vandals, whose fun comes from destroying the pleasure of others. Those vandals are now in their late thirties or forties. I hope they're raising their children to be better persons than they were.

E-mail Paul Azevedo at thereactor@earthlink.net or visit his website, http://home.earthlink.net/~thereactor/