Vandalism...Is It Really Worth It?

By: Jessica Wood
Vandalism can be seen every­where--from the graffiti on neighborhood walls to Willow Canyon’s campus. According to dictionary.com, vandalism is “the deliberate mischievous or mali­cious destruction or damage of property.”

On August 18, I found out how much vandalism can hurt an individual. After school I found my car door damaged, headlight plastic broken off and my wallet stolen from my car in the student parking lot.

Someone’s meaningless rebel­lion turned my day into a disaster. I was lucky because another stu­dent found my wallet on the other side of the parking lot.

However, my car was still damaged, and I was still hurt. There is no simple cure for that.

This one act of vandalism real­ly hurt, but this is not the only act of vandalism Willow Canyon has seen. A few days prior to this inci­dent, another student’s car speak­ers were stolen. In the weeks that followed, a few students’ iPods were stolen.

The culprit of these thefts was later recognized as the same stu­dent who vandalized my car. That student ultimately received pun­ishment for the vandalism and thefts. Were a few silly “pranks” really worth jeopardizing his education?

However, this one student is not the only person who is guilty of vandalizing. Willow Canyon has seen many acts of vandal­ism such as: writing on bathroom stalls, the theft of the wildcat stat­ue last year, graffiti on the walls of buildings and many students have had their personal posses­sions stolen from the gym locker rooms.

We as a student body need to be mature enough to stop vandal­ism before more people get hurt.

When something horrible hap­pens to you, you can’t help but wonder “why me?” Whether the act is direct or indirect towards that person it feels the same way. They feel violated. The thought that someone will go out of his or her way to harm someone is a sad thought.

Sir Isaac Newton said, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It is up to each individual to find which choices are the best because choices and actions have consequences.

I believe each person has good inside them. However, it is up to each person to make the right decision.

One way to look at things is every time you think about rebel­ling or doing something stupid, think: “Would I want this done to me?” I’m guessing a lot of prob­lems wouldn’t occur if people would just think about what they are doing. Most people wouldn’t want to go out of their way to hurt people.

With every choice we make, think about the consequences, whether it be vandalizing or be­ing inconsiderate to someone or something. If the consequences aren’t better than the advantages, then it’s simple: don’t do it. After all, we are one high school; we should be helping each other out, not causing more problems for someone.