September 1, 2005

ValleyViewpoints

Do you know what your kid was doing at 3 a.m. this morning?

Editor,
A house next door was seriously vandalized several weeks ago by teenage boys. They ransacked the entire front yard, sprayed cars, smeared disgusting stuff all over doors and windows, dug up the lawn and drew graffiti vulgarities that made on-lookers sick to the stomach. Make no mistake, this was not simply a prank, it was sheer criminal activity. Just ask the police. Do you know where your kid was at 3 a.m. this morning?

Some said that Toilet Papering [TP-ing] is supposedly just one of our own American rituals— a harmless one; that girls engage in TP-ing just as much as boys; that if girls got TP-ed, it was because they were popular and boys were TP-ed because they were geeks. So therefore it’s cute to invade the property of a neighbor, cause varying degrees of damage, and scare the occupants and their kids out of their minds? Is this our new American ethic?
Where is the line that is crossed before high-school rambunctiousness becomes maliciousness? Since when has vandalism become a mandatory activity in high school kids’ way of thinking? How long will it take for parents to recognize how run-away this activity in the darkness of the night is turning out to be?

America has always taken Constitutional pride in one’s Right to property and protection. A house was seriously vandalized— what an atrocious invasion of privacy and space! What an affrontation to the respect one has always given to well-educated kids living in well-to-do neighborhoods. What a disappointment it is that parents don’t believe its time to rein in these behavior patterns, and in fact stop condoning these activities. Or should we wait until the TP and graffiti attacks happens to each one of us in order to personalize the experience and feel more strongly about it?

Do you really know where your kid was at 3 a.m. this morning?

Name withheld upon request
Almaden Valley

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