Making A Change For the Better
About graffiti...
I carry a can of carb cleaner and a bundle of shop rags in the rig specifically for ridding *my* neighborhood of this crap
keeps it from proliferating.
The Story:
Years ago a kid came tearing around my corner on a bike, threw a paper sack in my neighbor's yard as he passed; rattled when it hit. Right behind him comes a small import pickup, in hot pursuit, apparently. They disappear round the next corner and I hear the sound of squealing tires.
Well, I decide to check the bag and it's got spray cans of paint in it. Jumped into my rig and followed. Came upon the pickup with one wheel up on the curb, the bike laying on the median, and the driver and the kid circling each other on the lawn of a house there.
The driver was apparently afraid to touch the kid who looked 13 -14years old. Well, I had my cell phone in my hand, already having called 911, as the driver explained to me that he had caught the kid tagging a couple of blocks away and had chased him.
At that I took a hold of the kid's arm. He was trying to leave and held him firmly. Told him the police were on the way and asked him why in the hell he would mess up my neighborhood like that?
He said, "What do you care? It wasn't in YOUR neighborhood!"
I said, "This CITY is my neighborhood, so is this COUNTY, so is this STATE, so is this COUNTRY!!! Are you a PERSON or an ANIMAL? Animals "mark" their territory!"
Had a talk with him about responsibility and being a "man" and said that if he didn't have anything going on at home he could come to me and I'd include him in my beach - snowplay expeditions that I've organized for numerous other young guns like him throughout my years here.
Just then, the police arrived and arrested him. He wasn't scared of them at all. Said he'd been arrested before, like it was a badge of honor or something.
AnywaysÂ…
They took him away and I figured I'd be seeing some tagging on MY property by way of retaliation when he got out, but no, never heard from him.Few years later, I'm walking around my local Pep Boy's store doing some shopping and there's a young fella in a Pep Boy's uniform, kinda following me around eying me.
He comes up to me and asks, "You don't recognize me, do you?"
I say, "No, have we met before?"
He says, "Yes"
Something in the way he says it alerts me to ask, "Was it a good or bad meeting?"
He says, "Well, it was kinda bad ----- but kinda good too because what you said to me started me thinking about what I was doing and who I wanted to be and, well, I'm working on it, THANKS! "
You could have pushed me over with a feather.
Happy Trails,
Thomas Weller - aka
the San Diego Highwayman
snail mail:
Goose Creek Ranch
504 Macon St.
El Cajon, Ca. 92019
PH # 619-442-3767
Be sure to visit his weblog (online Diary):
On The Road w the San Diego Highwayman a workin in his "Soul Garden"
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