January 3, 2013

Vandalism - Emotional and Otherwise

By Rev. Dan Vojir

Destructive people happen. But we have to fight back. We have to move on.

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Which one is the worse vandal? by Dan Vojir
 

Blogs are places to rant. They are places to discuss. They are places to emote feelings - and reason. All these things can be done separately, but if they come together in one blog, it can be an awesome/fearful place to be. 

Today, someone vandalized a garden I've grown for the community, the back of my building. It has a design made of ornamental cabbages, kale, various flowers and plants and acrylic rock. I know the vandalism is deliberate since it was done after I had posted a sign about previous vandalism. I've now posted a sign to the effect that if it happens again, I will plow the entire garden under since I am not about to learn a lesson in futility.

 Below are some pics I must share in my rant against senseless destruction.

 But this post has something else to reflect upon: the emotional vandalism that tried to take place in Maryland and failed ... miserably. 

The Westboro Baptist clan has tried its hand at emotional vandalism before, but the last two times have been met with extraordinary opposition: in Newtown, the official hate group was forced to abandon it's protest after witnessing the "wall" amassed outside their hotel room window. In Maryland - where it picketed against same-sex marriages beginning - it met with counter-protesters organized by a local church:

   "Fortunately   for the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, more than 250 demonstrators participated in a counter-protest staged by St. Anne's Episcopal Church, which is located not far from the courthouse.

The satisfaction of seeing Westboro foiled - again - lies not in the protest itself, but in its organization by a church. True, St. Anne's will now be forever labeled a "demonic, progressive" church not only by Phelps but also by the rabidly homophobic Christian Right crowd, but it is a Christian Church helping to set the trend that even Newt Gingrich admitted was inevitable.

The latest protests have also sparked a petition to the White House, asking it to revoke Westboro's tax-exempt status and declare it a hate group.

White House Petition by Google Images w/caption by Rev Dan
 

This year may be the year that we can get the vandals off the streets and our of our minds.

I wish we could get them out of our gardens.

The 50 Chumasero Memorial Garden, the heart, its placement, my vandal rants.

 

50 Chumasero Memorial Garden - Heart by Dan Vojir

Larger garden by Dan Vojir

vandal post 1 by Dan Vojir

Some Don't!! by Dan Vojir