suspect I am not alone.”

Reasonless destruction,

whether . it -be. a dramatic’
cutting of: ‘Suspension bridge ;

cables or a simple slashing of
bus seats, is an act of
_ hostility against all of us.

Objective questioning about
. the vandals’ motives. will be.
‘instantly rejected. in favour |

of relishing the notion. of

soundly ° thrashing their |

posteriors. But, in our
calmer ‘moments, when we

seek solutions to problems of

_ this kind, we find ourselves
stymied by what seems to be
an act without a rational
motive. :

To find some hint of
motive I have tried to recall
acts of destruction in my
own pre-adolescence. They
usually centred about the
problems of ‘fort’ building in
the bush. -

Many neighborhood lots
were empty in those days
and they served as a
playground for all of my
generation. A group of my
peers would invite me to
help build a fort. This was
great; our creativity
flourished as we designed
and built a childhood work
of art in rustic architecture.
The end ‘result would be a
conglomoration of old
lumber nailed together to
resemble a shack. It would
be in a tree or on top of a
stump and the only available
access was by a rope ladder.

The point is that if I were
not invited to join in this
project, my exclusion from
the group would nettle and I
would conspire with other

excludees to wreck the
wretched fort. Wanton
destruction yes, but, not

without motive.

As an adult long past the
time of acting out resent-
ments, I still would feel less
badly about a misfortune
occuring to the Vancouver
Club from which I am ex-
cluded than about a similar
misfortune happening to the
YMCA who would welcome

~ invited me to participate. aoe

towards the, culprita. 1

and .tool making.

_ FRUSTRATED

a Could: exclusion from: the ;
» creative group be the ‘im-
portant motive in vandalism? -
' The: destructive vandal _ may.
be. expressing’ his ‘humanity:
in the perverted use ‘of his.

hands. Instead of’ building
and creating, he or she is
rendering and destroying.

Could this be the response to .
_ the frustration of not being

allowed to function as a
creative human?

"The. hominid specie, of,
which man _is:a member, is

defined by cultural an-.
‘thropologist Mary ‘Leakey

for its associations with tools
Other
primates experiment with
tools and tool making. but
with hominids . is a
paramount adaptation and
they depend on this specialty
for their safety, shelter and
food, ,

The hominids of 1979, in
suburban North Vancouver,
grow up in a world that must
seem completely finished in
every detail, thus denying
youths a clearly definable
role. Every toy of their
childhood is pumped out of
the plastic factory, all the
manufactured items of play
are cheap and, for the most
part, work well. Nothing is
left for them to build
themselves except the totally
anticipated models of kits
and erectors sets.

There art no chores; even
the boring tasks have been
eliminated by the automatic
furnace and dishwasher. No
wood to split or carry, no
dishes to clean up after a
meal. Perhaps they could
still be put to work leading a
power lawn mower or
tidying up a garden, but
these jobs are often con-
sidered pleasant recreation
for their parents.

There is apparently little
more left to build:
everything that needs to be
done is done by a machine or
someone else, Even cn-
tertainment is canned for
their convenience, on a
record or in a TV set. The
creative instincts normal in
young people are frustrated.

Human energy, blocked in
its normal course, spills over
into abnormal = pathways.

talents

people are “excluded

overagain. °°

Other. factors ‘cannot be

‘ignored. There are. ‘broken
‘homes. The social fabric ‘is
fractured, the deterioration

of respect for authority is
everywhere in evidence. But
exclusion could. be ..an. im-
portant contributory motive.

GIVE THEM TOOLS

_ Are there really no

Creative ‘jobs that. they can

be invited. to join in on, or
even that they might initiate
for themselves? How
available are tools and
materials to youths who

‘might choose to contribute:

their time, energy and
to some useful

projects. of their own: toys

for childrens hospital wards,

playthings for Christmas’s
ever-present needy children,
or benches to comfort the
elderly and refresh the
weary. Actually the benches
that do exist are a prime
target for vandalism.

The solution could be to
encourage creativity that
does not exclude anyone,
Programs that make tools
available with instruction on
request (it must not be like
school, talents must be
mostly  self-developed).
Materials for construction
could be gathered from the
beaches after a high tide or,
for the more sophisticated
projects designed to serve

the community, the
materials could be provided
by the community.

It could work! When our
own boys were growing up I
turned over my basement
workroom and tools to all
the neighborhood kids and
encouraged them to make

Christmas toys to be
distributed, through the
volunteered services of

firemen, to needy families.
The boys loved it and all of
them became talented
workers or creative business
men when they grew up.

It would not be costly to
experiment, Perhaps a
beginning has been made
with the sentencing of
convicted vandals to per-
form sociably desirable work
projects. Those as yet un-

+ build’ -
children, ages ‘six’ to ‘twelve .

a ‘Ambleside .
‘7 Playground.

| Va dalism i is: one spch: ‘path.
oe Wheg ;
‘from creative . participation
_ they. turn (to destructive
.. Vandalism. The story -of the
“boys. and. their ‘bush forts all

Yyoursell and used. junk. to
“That is“ what

did . this :.summer ° :at .. the

bleside ‘Adventure
Playground;. ‘since its _.in-

ception. by the West Van- .

couver Parks and Recreation.
Department, three. summers
ago.

But, as West explains, it is

- up to thé children to decide
what they want to do and

how’ they want to do it,
whether it. is: building walls

- and. ‘tree houses, ‘climbing

trées, “digging, . planting

gardens, or putting on plays,

making puppets and looking

‘after the playground's pet

rabbit.

The inaterials they use are
donated, “good junk”, as
West calls it. “The kids will

Adventure

other and check: that. their

- something ‘going: on ‘all the

- “things.”

"find a use ‘for anything. from :

old: lumber: and: “tires” to -
bricks, cartons and tools.

Three. ‘full-time. ‘staff and ’

two volunteers: assist West .
during, ‘the
‘ Together, they: listen’ to the -
children’s .

summer. :

ideas; ‘instruct:
them, make sure they do not
hurt themselves’ or. each.

: .-. Structures -and ‘activities ‘are
‘the “children. tackle.” says”
Neville. West, who. hasbeen
co-ordinator -of the Am-

always: changing and there is:

time. And, by everyone’.
doing his thing, the children

-learn -how to. work out :
problems for themselves.”

He also points out that the °

. older children -tend -to help |
‘the younger ones.: “It gives .

them a. great feeling of being —

useful and it builds up their.

confidence to try new .

" Registration for the. fall
session of the Ambleside

Adventure Playground is this -
Saturday, September 8, from

9 a.m. to 12 noon at the West
Vancouver Resreatton .

Centre.

For ‘further information,
call 926-3266.

convicted could be involved

too. A program of the scope”

_ Of “Little ‘League Sports” .

could give vent to creative

- drives and reduce vanr-

dalism’s frightful cost to
society.

Work is a badly slandered
activity, adorned with a dour
image inherited from ‘a
bygone era of child factory
Jabour and = 12-hour
drudgery. Work needs to be
re-evaluated as a necessary
and happy outlet for human
energy, not monopolized by.

a few, not to be thought of as

a necessary evil, but to. be

enjoyed for the satisfactions |

that it Cin, T
shared. Co-operatio:
" learned ‘ahd the ‘handmade’.
products ‘that result - can |
contain elements of quality

‘not found in the product of

today’s industries.

Humans, involved in this
way, could develop values
that preclude destruction as’
the quality of their product .
and work becomes a quality
in their lives.

(Russ ‘Hicks, a former

‘Burnaby alderman, ran as

NDP candidate in North

. Vancouver-Burnaby at the
. May 22 fedetalelection).

Skates for Sale

New and Used Skates

from *85

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1364 Marine Dr.,WestVan 926-1116